


Swagger

by StealyEyed



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Love, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Has a Crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Aged-Up Character(s), Alpha Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Alpha Kagami Tsutugi, Alpha/Alpha, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Ass Play, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Docking, Established Adrigami, Evil Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Evil Lila Rossi, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gaslighting, Girl Penis, Gratuitous Smut, Growing Up, Homophobia, Hormonal Adrien Agreste, Knotting, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lukadrigaminette Endgame, M/M, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mpreg, Multi, Nesting, Non-Human Genitalia, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Not Beta Read, Omega Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, One-Sided Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Lila Rossi, Physical Abuse, Polyamorous Pack, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Porn With Plot, Rough Oral Sex, Verbal Humiliation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:54:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26893249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StealyEyed/pseuds/StealyEyed
Summary: Unusually late in life, Adrien Agreste awakens as an Alpha and said life turns into a living hell as he finds himself a hormonal mess.His girlfriend, Kagami, wants a pack; he just wants to be good, but not being "bad" seems to be becoming impossible these days given how sweet his Lady and his good friend Marinette Dupain-Cheng are starting to smell.If only he could remove the stink of Lila Rossi from his life, which, unbeknownst to him, is growing fouler...A work focusing on Adrien growing up, acknowledging his abuse, and overcoming his father's attempts to raise him in a stereotypically "feminine" fashion.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 81
Kudos: 195





	1. Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter starts out pretty heavy on the smut, but there is a plot here that begins to pick up in chapter II.

Adrien almost wilted with relief when he collapsed into bed after a grueling day at school which had become more of a prison even than the gilded cage of the Agreste mansion. His one escape had become torture. 

It was damn unfair, he reflected, watching Plagg dart off into his mini-fridge to start scarfing down stinky cheese that turned Adrien's stomach with the stench.

Though even that wasn't enough to dispel the thick pounding heat in his gut that had him tugging at his belt to get some relief for the ridiculously painful swelling that had been plaguing him all day.

He had expected his awakening to be something like puberty, a gradual process where he woke up to find one or two more wispy hairs growing from his chin, and started to outpace Ladybug over several months until he had five inches on her with more clearly on the way if he was going to match his father.

He'd hoped it would be easy, familiar. Instead, awakening had jumped him in a dark alley, kicked him in the balls, shanked him, stolen his wallet, and then left him to bleed out in a dumpster.

Thick with red-veins, his cock flopped forth from his boxers while he tugged down the tight jeans that were simple agony. The urge to knot and breed almost had him trembling now that he didn't have to suppress the searing fire that washed over him. Laving his tongue over his palm, slicking it with spit, he gripped his cock and began to twist it in his slick palm. His eyes drifted shut as he imagined the tip and just the tip piercing ... _anything_ that would ease this pain

Chat Noir's enhanced senses had prepared him to some degree, but this was even worse, as Alpha senses stacked on top of those he already possessed.

And, to use the kind of terms that Nino had taught him and that his father would still wash out his mouth with soap for (or, at least, have Nathalie wash out his mouth for), it was like he was just one massive walking hard-on. He didn't know that he knew the things that he wanted to do to just about every person he passed.

Luka at band practice for _Kitty Section_? Somehow despite the unpleasant odors of the Seine, he smelled of the ocean breeze and sea water and engine grease from the ship's motor and as Adrien fumbled through his section of practice, he stumbled over every chord, just staring because god _damn_ did he want to drown. Tongue him loose and then fuck him over the side-railing of the _Liberty_ while.

Alya, sidling up beside him to show off her latest post on the Ladyblog? She was a Beta, so not alluring like Luka, an Omega, but fuck it! _Literally_. It didn't matter. Just bend her over the school desk, tear off her jeans, and then mount her right in front of the partner she was cucking until she screamed for him to give her all of the knot that she never knew that she _needed_.

He huffed and writhed into his mattress, blood on fire, thoughts a tangled mess of scenes as he fumbled for some lube on his desk and poured it over his cock, headless of the chill or the sloppy mess that he left on his sheets as the lube got everywhere.

That longing expression he could see on Nino's face made him kind of sad, even in the haze as he started to slick his tightly clenched fingers over his cock.

So do the exact same thing to Nino. They were friends so it wouldn't do to leave him feeling left out, and because I love you, man, I'll even give you a reach around! What's a "good friend" for if not to give you a really amiable reach-around while they knot you?

Ugh.

Had Nathalie failed to inform him in health science that the bulbous curves of his knot actually held a brain? It was surely doing all of his thinking for him these days.

His hand fell to the base of his cock, the knot just under his skin, searing hot against his palm. That only seemed to make it worse.

Marc and Nathaniel, paired Omegas of all things – perfect for breeding so that they could care for each other's children.

Oh, God...

Seeing their bellies swelling up with his children as they fought to suck his cock, trying to show him which of them _deserved_ his knot.

He started to clench and roll his balls, the ache of release building up at the base of his shaft.

Every random person on the street turned his head.

Lila....

He slowed his furious pumping of the bulbous blood-red cock head, thumbing back his foreskin, his knot having started to swell up on the cusp of release.

Okay, so Lila was pretty much the one person that his dick had no designs on.

Quite the opposite, in fact. He scowled, tugging his hand away with some regret as his dick started to deflate, utterly unsatisfied.

When she leered at Marinette when it seemed like no one was watching?

Blood raced from his cock to his head, pounding out reason.

He wanted to rip off her lying face and make her eat it!

These kinds of thoughts were making him feel like an unmitigated asshole. How could he have designs on his best friend's girl? On his best friend?

How could he want to... hurt people even if they were horrible?

This wasn't who he wanted to be, even if Chat Noir always had a ... darkness to him. 

He... he had just wanted friends, people in his life, and everything that he had been taught be his father told him that this was sick and wrong. He was a gentleman, polite, deferential, accepting, never complaining, living the life his father wanted. Submissive.

He smothered his face in his pillow, muting the scent of his own arousal as it deflated.  
  
A shower would be in order soon.

He was supposed to be a _bitch_ , something dark that really didn't sound like him at all whispered in the back of his head.

That was what his father wanted. Something easy to control.

So much for that idea.

Instead of a bitch, again, he was a walking hard-on for everything on two legs this side of Lila.  
  
Hell, he'd never thought about another guy that way, but now it didn't seem to matter one way or the other to his dick.

The only two people in his circle who didn't call to his instincts were Marinette and Ladybug, who hadn't awakened as anything yet.

Marinette...

He hoped to god that she _never_ awakened, even if that was in vain.

She was endless sunshine and warm support to everyone, especially him when the raging fire welled up and he... he wanted to do things that would make him a very bad person he hoped never to be.

Her stutters made him laugh; her touch soothed his raging need like a cool washcloth to a fevered forehead.

All that giving; all that gentleness; all that love.

She was an Omega, through and through, even if she hadn't awakened. She had to be.

He couldn't lose that no matter what happened – couldn't let his instincts drive him to do something ... so temptingly horrible when she actually awoke as one.

She was going to make... a perfect mate for... someone in the future. Maybe that mystery boy she loved, if he ever got a whiff of the perfection that would no-doubt be her awakened scent.

She didn't love him. She told him that herself. And ... and she _deserved_ an Alpha for whom she really cared.

Pity that she had been ill the last two days and unable to come to class. He could have really used her help to soothe the raging need.

And then there was Kagami.

Given their parents' resources, they both knew that they were Alphas, MRIs having been used to detect Adrien's premature knot and Kagami's internal testicles early on in their lives.

Their competitive friendship and rivalry was the stuff of legends, and most students at the D'argencourt fencing academy had been placing bets on when one of them would kill the other in a duel or, given the time they spent together, when they would try to tear out each other's throats over a suitably attractive Omega in heat. The running joke was that it was going to be Marinette, but that was ridiculous. From their friendly meetups, it was clear that Kagami adored the girl in her own way. She didn't have feelings for them, and they... they could never force _her_.

No one expected, or could prepare for, Kagami, though. Even knowing that he was an Alpha, or was to present as one, she had _wanted_ him. If she was going to mate with someone, whatever the complications, she wanted an equal – someone who could challenge her, beat her, and lose to her, making both her victories and her loses worthwhile.

Adrien rather liked that idea, however much he wanted and needed softness.

Rutting some submissive Omega in heat or forcing a Beta orbiter into line was child's play. She wanted her relationship to be a clash – a duel, and a partnership where their competition – their mutual quest to better each other – would only pause when they had to band together to slaughter an interloper.

Paired Alphas were rare, but not unheard of or illegal. Given contemporary trends towards monogamy and the rise of Omega rights over the last two centuries, most Alphas pair-bonded with an Omega, some with two. Laws were in place, though, for paired Alphas, though there were only eighteen such couples in France at the moment.

And each one of them had a pack.

A half dozen Omegas and Betas and all their children – the Alphas' children, of course, from any willing mother or Omega father -- aggregated into a communal family around a pair of Alphas.

After growing up in the isolation of the Agreste mansion, there was nothing that Adrien could imagine being better than that.

No wonder they had packs if they too were walking hard-ons.

Kagami hadn't seemed to complain about that, but that wasn't her way.

But he ... needed to be touched in a way that she kind of did too. Maybe that was why they both spent so much time with Marinette. He didn't know what Kagami did with her, but the baker let him lay his head on her lap as Chat Noir during his increasingly frequent visits to her attic room and she just eased away the fire in his skin.

Adrien leapt from bed when the warning klaxon of an akuma alert tore from his cellphone.

Plagg simply rolled his eyes as he was dragged into Adrien's miraculous.

Ugh. That magical leather was soft and form-fitting, perfectly comfortable unlike the stiffness of real leather.

It hugged and caressed his still-twitching cock in a way that was ... really horribly good and would probably result in a few photographs showing of his bulge appearing on the internet.

It would be nice to let loose though, pound out some of his frustrations, he thought to himself as he bounded out of his window into the night.

At least his lady could take charge of things, as she always did, easing some of the mental load off his shoulders.

The minute that he arrived on scene to see a multicoloured fashion monstrosity terrorizing Paris while a flushed and huffing Ladybug battered him with strikes from her yo-yo, his knot swelled and _screamed_ at him.

His costume rippled and stretched to accommodate him, the tight magical fabric forcing his cock to slide up his belly, leaving a creased protrusion.

Paris was going to be getting a real eyeful tonight.

And _every_ night that he had to fight alongside his Lady.

The pheromones washed over him. Like never before, he hungered to tear the akuma apart with his bare claws and show off both his strength and his prodigious knot that Ladybug kept on _starting_ at throughout the fight, looking like she was about to start drooling.

His lady had awakened; and he'd always suspected that, with her no-nonsense attitude and forceful personality, she would be an Alpha. 

Heaven help him and his raging erection, better and worse than it ever had been before.

He was wrong.

His Lady was an Omega.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter, and I hope that you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> One of the things that I wanted to explore was the reconciliation between nature and nurture. Adrien is raised in a stereotypically feminine way (be polite, pretty, listen to what you're told, that's why you're valuable). He compensates by constructing Chat Noir, showing that he desperately wants to embrace his masculine side both by nature and as an act of rebellion. He just does not know how because he never had a male role model to teach him. This story is, in large part, about that struggle, only amplified by his Alpha masculinity coming to the forefront and forcing the issue with his father's attempts to feminize him or make him "a bitch."
> 
> There will be a great deal of unusual sexual content here, with a few variations on standard ABO tropes. Be aware that female Alphas have penises, there will be descriptions of non-human genitalia, and mpreg is common in this universe.
> 
> While much remains the same for our characters in this universe, they are aged up to 17, past the legal age of consent in France.
> 
> There will also be various depictions of emotional and physical abuse; however, the worst aspects of physical abuse will be referenced rather than described "in the moment."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir have a conversation regarding their recent awakenings, after which Adrien starts to contemplate how he can best learn to love himself... after he clears his head a little bit by “loving himself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be aware that the "girl penis" tag comes into play late in the chapter, if that squicks you. It only appears in half a paragraph.

Post-akuma meetings had become something of a regularity in recent weeks, as Ladybug always wanted to check in on him. Maybe that deferential concern should have had him suspecting that she'd be an Omega. Chat had to assume that she was worried about his increasingly violent tendencies that only found expression when he was “Chat Noir,” and was free to stop pretending to be “Adrien Agreste.” Even “Adrien” couldn't let himself be quite so open about his desires, but the liberty of anonymity behind a mask freed him from even his personal restraints.

Normally, he loved these meetings. Tonight as he sat on the edge of a random rooftop while waiting for his Lady to recharge her kwami and join him, he was just _dying_.

He groaned while shifting in place, trying to resettle his erection into a position that was comfortable but not _too_ comfortable because he could pretty much make a mess of himself just from sitting here and squirming. A huffing breath should have calmed him, but it only made him wince. The scent – her scent – was eating him alive. It was everywhere. Blooming inside of his nose. On his costume. In his skin like Greek fire washing over every inch. Filing his lungs. In his brain – what of it was left.

She was _everywhere_.

It would be so easy. His hand fell to his aching crotch, palming himself through the soft leather as he whimpered at the memory of her as she soared through the air, all fire and light.

“Hey, Chat?” came Ladybug's voice, forcing him to jerk up from his seated position, not intending to show off but surely doing so anyways from the way that her face fell slack and she swallowed convulsively.

He couldn't help but admire her red and black-spotted perfection, the costume that strained across her taut gymnast's body like skin, hugging the swollen curves of her breasts that would no doubt start to grow even larger as her body adapted to her status as - as a _breeder._

She was heady and new. Just awakened. Fertile. Clean. Fresh. Intoxicating. Alluring. Needy. She needed him. Why wasn't he giving her what she wanted and what he wanted and they both _needed_!

He grit his fanged teeth and slapped a claw to his exposed neck, drawing blood from the only skin that he could reach.

Because he wasn't like that, and she was beautiful and perfect and should be treated like a princess.

“Hey, Ladybug. How are you doing tonight, Bugaboo?" he offered with a shaky smile and a bow that he hoped was as naturally-dorky as it typically was.

She huffed and stretched her arms above her head, spine arching in a way that he imagined it might while she writhed for him.

This was not how he thought of her. Not how he should think of her. She was ... perfect – a shining beacon of everything that was right in the world, courageous and pure. Ladybug was loved, not desired in this way.

She settled on a nearby ledge, keeping distance between them. Her eyes were on him, glazed, as her nose flared hard.

“I'm doing ... alright, I guess,” she replied slowly with a bob of her head. “That akuma really took a lot out of me, more than usual because ... because I've been a little weak over the last few days.”

Why deflect? They both could smell each other. Alpha senses may have dwarfed Omegas and Betas, but breeders were genetically wired to pick up on the scent of a fertile Alpha.

Why deny what they knew? Why deny what they wanted?

_Stop it!_

“Are you, sure, Ladybug?” He knew that she didn't love him, but – but he loved her even through this torture and he had to know. If- if there was anything he could do to help her, he would. “It looked like you were having some trouble with that Akuma. If- if you need anything, you can just let me know.”

What exactly was he offering? What would she take it to mean?

“Oh, Kitty,” she hummed as she rose and strode towards him as if dazed. Had her hips always been that wide as they cocked to the side? “I know that you'll always give me anything that I need. I can always count on you. ”

“Of course, LB.” He sweated and twisted in place, rubbing his boot into the ground while she stared at the bloodied claw he held to his neck, licking her lips at the sight. “You and me against the world, right?”

“Mm-hm,” came the throaty moan. It had him raging, the heat building up in his belly as she stepped into his space and radiated need and care – not love, but warmth and concern because she was his partner.

“So,” he squeaked as he forced a grin that was probably more of a grimace, “Are you sure that you're alright, there, LB?” Fuck it. He couldn't think. Couldn't get beyond the obvious or platitudes, not with her looking at him and leaning in to huff his scent like his pheromones were a drug.

Of course. She was already high on adrenaline in that moment. It was stupid to meet when their blood was on fire after a victory and the endorphins were flooding their brains.

It would be so easy in that moment as she stared up at him, mouth parting slightly, lips glistening and body throbbing and undulating with need so thick that he could taste it on the air. She was vulnerable in her awakening, awash in desires never felt before.

He could do it. Her expression was lost and her body pliable, her new instincts alien and leaving her defenseless. She wouldn't fight as he locked his hands around her waist and slammed her into the wall, her legs curling around him so that she could press her heated and concealed core against the cock that she had been eyeing all night, distracted with her need for him. Her scent and taste would flood his mouth when he left bruising bites across her throat so that everyone could know that she was his as she whimpered and begged, clawing his swollen cock so that she could have it.

Then, with his claws, he could tear open the seams of both their costumes, exposing her clenching-slick pussy to the cool air so he could slip inside without any resistance – she needed him so badly – and as she cliched at his shoulders with feeble hands, all the pride and reserve fucked out of her while she begged him, he'd knot her so he could pump spurt after spurt of his seed into her, flooding her for long minutes until he tugged free, leaving her gaping for him and leaking cum down her thighs as she slid down to the ground, his well-fucked bitch, while he left to ravage the apartment complex beneath them for supplies that she could use to construct a nest in one of the upper rooms, however impractical and stupid that instinct was...

... she wouldn't want it. Didn't want it, save for the hormones. She wasn't in heat, but the awakening was enough to make it impossible for her to consent, at least until she got a handle on these feelings. 

The unbridled ugliness of that truth shook him. It short-circuited the seemingly unending stream of images and the desire. All the need and longing and even the love bled away into something far harder but no less precious, a different kind of love for his best friend and his partner.

To try to break her out of that weird hormonal stupor, much as he ached and whimpered, he grabbed the arm that was reaching out towards him, grip harsh on her wrist as he forced it down to her side. He squeezed. Hard.

That seemed to shake loose the cobwebs as she took a step back, though her other hand rose to pat his chest like she would a dog,

“Thanks, Chat,” she offered with a shuddering sigh and a pinched up look of regret and pain. “With these hormones, it's.. it's kind of hard to think. You- you're a really good friend, you know?”

That didn't follow. A non sequitur. She was still in a daze.

But it was also a kick to the gut that actually deflated his desire. For her, he smiled through the pain. He had a lot of practice doing that after dealing with his father, but this time, the smile wasn't to protect himself.

“Believe me, LB. I get where you're coming from.” He patted the hand on his chest.

“I guess you do. All those times I teased you about being such a needy kitty and a horndog when you complained about how your awakening was treating you are coming back to bite me, I guess. I never realized how – how much we're at the mercy of our brain chemistry.” She shuddered and took his hand in hers as he released her wrist. “It's kind of scary, actually.”

“It's like you're a completely different person when the need takes over – like you don't even know who you are,” he offered while he stepped back, though their hands were still together, offering each other comfort.

A quizzical frown crossed her pouty pink lips. “Really, Chat? I wouldn't put it that way.”

“Oh?”

She shrugged while gesturing towards the edge of the roof, before leading him there to take a seat. 

“Maybe it's because you're an Alpha or maybe because you're a guy, but that sounds pretty different from what I've been going through.”

“So it's not like you've got another voice in your head – someone who's-” he stumbled for a moment, only in part because she was stroking along his knuckles gently, and also because her proximity as she leaned into his shoulder, arm around his waist was... was bitter torture. Why was she so cruel when she didn't love him? The urge to bury his face in her exposed throat and sink his fangs into her pulse point until she shuddered and surrendered to him was almost unbearable. “Uh, can I be crass for a moment, My Lady.”

“Chat,” she offered with an indulgent eye roll and a blush that probably would have been a lot worse if she wasn't swimming in Omega-awakening hormones. “I can smell how hard you are right now. We're a little beyond crass.”

_Oh, god. .._

The thought of her peeling off his costume so that she could get a better whiff and feel and taste...

“Okay, then. Well. It's like I've got someone else who's trying to take the driver's seat away from me” - not that he knew how to drive, literally or metaphorically -- “and he has a one-track mind that involves my knot and pretty much nothing else. If I let ... him, he could just take over and it'd be like I was a completely different person.”

Ladybug thumbed her chin and looked to the sky, face pinching with an unreadable expression. “No. That's not how I feel at all. It's more like... I'm just a really emotional and needy version of me. It's like when you get really excited or-” she cleared her throat - “or horny, and you get lost in the rush, but it's still you. What you want and how you think and what you need, but all hyperactive and amplified so you don't have any impulse control.”

“I'd happily take that over having this weird butt of a guy inside my head.”

“Are you sure about that?” she scoffed, raising a brow.

“Pretty sure you have it easier than me, my lady,” came his deflection as he puffed up, turning the pain into a ridiculous contest.

“Okay, first, no. You haven't dealt with the cramps. It's like someone is jabbing a red-hot fire-poker into my uterus using a sledge hammer until it snaps my spine and comes out the other side.”

_Jesus!_

His lady certainly had a way with words.

“And it doesn't stop there. Someone's taking another pair of hammers to my thighs. Top that off with the nausea, and I haven't been able to eat anything in two days, so now I've got acid reflux like you wouldn't _believe_.”

Oh, god. It sounded like Ladybug's uterus was trying to eat its way out of her like some kind of alien face-hugger spawn by that description.

Adrien had his disagreements with his wayward and insistent knot on occasion, but...

He took a peek down at his crotch to check in on his old, dear friend whom Ladybug was still kind of admiring.

_You and I are going to be alright, buddy. We could be a lot worse to each other._

He didn't want to think about Ladybug's uterus eating itself.

Scratch that. He didn't really want to be thinking about any girl's uterus. Period.

Uh. No period. Please...

“But what I was really talking about, Chat, was the idea that there's another guy in your head.”

“Well I don't mean that literally.” Chat tried to deflect, caught in a kind of panic as he tensed up even further. Surely he hadn't implied that he had some kind of dissociative identity disorder.

“Oh, no, Chat. I'm just saying that maybe it's not healthy for you to think about this “butt” of a guy in that way, even as a joke.”

He squirmed as if trying to get away from the conversion. “Well, I don't want to think of him as being a part of me.”

“Maybe you should. If that's something that you're going to have to deal with for the long-term - something that you've got inside of yourself so it _is_ you, then labelling it and shoving it away sounds... like not the best thing to do for your mental health.”

“That would just add it onto the pile.”

“Kitty,” her concerned smile, used to cover over a frown, was like a ray of sun splitting storm-clouds, giving him hope and focus. Even addled by hormones, she was still his Lady, confident and sure, and there was something distinctly not _Omega_ about the way she showed off her teeth in a protective snarl. “Is- is something wrong in your civilian life? Someone not treating you well, or stress, or...?”

“Oh. It's just....” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, regretting it when the sweetness he picked up from his Lady's wrist scent gland almost left him crying. “It's my dad. Sometimes, he makes me feel like... like he really didn't want to have an Alpha for a son.”

“Why? It's – it's a privilege to be an Alpha. Not that one type of person is actually better than another, but society sure seems to think so. Most parents would love to have-” she offered air quotes and a mocking roll of her eyes - “the 'right kind' of kid. Like a boy in China instead of a girl.”

“Alphas get into trouble, My Lady. We're – well, we're walking hard-ons who are pretty much stuck in a perpetual game of “fuck, mate, or kill” with everyone we see. My father- I don't think that he wanted the hassle, because that meant that he would be the only Alpha in the family and I...”

“You'd be easy to control? Not act up?” she supplied, tight-lipped as she squeezed his hand and nuzzled up to his chin, and he couldn't stop the reciprocal reaction that actually calmed him as he smeared his throat's scent gland across her face and her breathing picked up.  
  
“Yeah,” he grunted, soothed by her willingly accepting his scent because they were best friends and partners, like a pack but not in the way that he really wanted. “Pretty much.”

“Kitty,” she began slowly, pulling back to stare at him, eyes focusing and shedding the last of the hormonal haze that had clouded them, “when you say that you have a father, you- you mean a male father and not an Alpha mother, right? It's not just a little whIte lie to protect your identity or anything?

“Yeah. He is a he."

“Oh, good.”

“Why?” Was his lady prejudiced against Alpha females?

“Because his testicles are on the outside.” She scowled and clenched her fingers. “That'll make it easier for me to kick him in the balls.”

Oh, yes.

That's right.

He might ... feel adoration and safety around Marinette, and Kagami could light the flames of competition and desire that his father quashed, but that was why he loved _this_ girl. Hard not to love someone who was so open about her willingness to kick a dick in the balls.

“It's like- like he almost was surprised that I was an Alpha, even though we knew since just after I was born. Maybe it just took so long that he was able to put it out of his mind.”

“I know that we're about the same age, so it did seem strange that you're, what? Two years behind schedule for an Alpha?”

“Yeah. Maybe that's why it's hitting me so hard.” He paused because he had to shift his hips so that she wasn't disturbed by how hard it was. “Sorry, LB. I mean, I was going to listen to your problems, not ... not whine about mine again.”

“It's okay, Chat. Plenty of time for that when we see each other next time.”

“You're okay with that – I mean, seeing each other?” Did that sounds as pathetic to her as it did to him?

“Chat,” she cooed gently, squeezing his bicep. “We see each other all the time.”

“No. I mean just talking about these kinds of things with me, even though we have our identities to keep secret and stuff.”

Yes. “And stuff.” Well-said, Adrien. Gabriel would probably swat him over the nose for his eloquence.

She giggled as she rose to her feet, palm over her mouth as her cheeks split with adorable laugh lines, but it didn't make him feel stupid; instead, he could only thrill that he made her laugh.

“Yeah, Kitty. It sounds like you really need someone to talk to about this kind of _stuff_. What kind of partner would I be if I didn't help you out of a bind like that?”

“Thanks, LB.” He rose to tower over her, and had to drag his eyes away from the perfect blue orbs that enthralled him every time he stared into her almost regal and elegant features. Even with the smell of her need, trickling out from her legs, she was still his Lady, soothing like Marinette and bold like Kagami. Peace and inspiration at once. “I can't tell you how much that means to me.”

“About as much as you mean to me, Kitty. Trust me.” With a wink that had his heart aflutter, she was gone, tipping herself off the edge of the building to enter into a death-spiral down towards the street, but he trusted her enough to feel no fear. As she always did, she proved worthy of his trust, tossing out her arm at the last moment to swoop into a graceful arc across the Parisian streetway on her yo-yo.

Far less gracefully than his partner, because unlike her, he was hefting a heavy burden of wood, he made his way back to his room, lost in the heat of her scent and the memory of her warm, small body against his.

When he flopped into his room and dispelled his transformation, he was right back where he started. Worse off. He raised his hand to his nose. His palm, held over the scent gland on her wrist earlier, reeked of Ladybug's sweet smell, like lilacs and the heady musk of roses. He'd need a very long shower and liberal use of that specialty body wash and shampoo that he'd bought that was basically industrial solvent and could wipe away any odours save its own pungent, artificial stink.

Still, something haunted him even more than her heavenly scent that mingled with his own in the most tempting way imaginable when he withdrew his cock from his underwear.

He didn't even bother with lube as he tugged off the legs of his pants from his feet, getting caught up for a moment, and stumbled into the bathroom.

In the mirror, he saw himself, and was ashamed that the sight of his own naked body only made him harder. Already the excess bulk was building up around his chest and arms, while the smooth belly that his father had demanded that he maintain – sleek without any real definition because androgynous or even slightly eliminate was the aesthetic he wanted for his prized model – was starting to split with rolls of muscle. Blonde hair was growing more noticeable around his chest

But his thickening cock and engorged knot were almost – almost thrilling as he wrapped his hands around his shaft and gave it a few experimental jerks, watching himself slick precum down the head.  
  
He could almost imagine what would have happened if he hadn't been so considerate, if he'd given in when Ladybug strode towards him and he grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her down and pressing her willingly into him, her eager lips laving suckling kisses to the concealed knot that she'd been eyeing.

His hand picked up as he focused on the slick head before withdrawing to spit into his palm and return, moist and warm, to his cock, hips jerking forward like he was losing himself inside of some bitch – _Ladybug_ – who he was gong to break and knot and breed. His entire body was aching with an electric tingle, her scent becoming all the more acute in his nose as he whimpered and squeezed his knot with one hand, mimicking the lock of a proper mating press.

Cock swelling hot in his hand, his eyes rolled up and eyelids drooped closed. Fuck. Had Kagami done this, or had she only ever fingered herself? He wanted to do it to her – to show her how good it was – forcing her to surrender to the alien pleasure of her Alpha-female cock and spurt all over her belly – as she lost to him and made a mess of herself.

Salty musk mingled with Ladybug's sweet scent and the earthy odour of her arousal had him salivating, but it blurred with the smell of sea water and grease and vanilla and pastries and the spice of Kagami's body-wash as he thought back to gorgeous blue eyes.

Then, mouth blowing open with a little scream, he finished with a convulsion through his entire body, dick straining and balls tightening up as he milked himself with furious, needy jerks of his hand. Legs falling weak, he spurted the first jet of his orgasm onto the ground as he allowed his last thrust to burst through the tight ring of his fingers, “knotting” his own hand in a way that could only be described as dissatisfying, even if it did tip him over the edge into orgasm.

As he shuddered through the next minute of release, his knot swelling up but his hand unable to provide him with the pressure and lock that he really needed, he was assailed by a cacophony of voices _begging_ him, and needy blue eyes, and Kagami's heated praise, her voice thick with haughty lust that echoed the dark whisper inside of his own mind. The knot would remain inflated for a good deal longer.

Collapsing to the cool and harsh tile floor on his knees, releasing one last watery spurt, he sank back to his butt, his still-hard cock twitching in his hands because he could so easily start up again and go another round, ready to move on to another mate and breed him or her too.

His sweaty hair parted as he tried to smooth it from his forehead with fumbling fingers, only managing to accidentally smear his own cum onto his face. He grimaced. Yuck. He had to be more careful.

On unsteady legs, he rose up from the floor and, catching himself on the edge of his sink to stabilize himself for a moment, set out to clean up his mess.

When satisfied, he retreated into the shower to try to get ready for bed and wash off his still-sticky cock while removing the scent of his nocturnal activities so that his father and classmates wouldn't pick up on it, even if everyone knew that a teenage boy masturbated.

As he scowled at the scent of the cleaning solution that he had bought, finally finding some relief for Ladybug's scent, he had time to reflect back on what he'd done.

Those eyes ... He hadn't been thinking of Ladybug when he came. Not Ladybug alone.

The smell of a bakery and engine grease and the wind and sun all together, and Kagami's voice hot in his ear.

When he'd come, he'd been thinking about knotting Ladybug, Marinette, _and_ Luka.

And Kagami had been doing the same while challenging him to keep up with her.

At least Nath, Marc, and Chloe weren't rattling around in there too.

He soaped up his hair and enjoyed the sensation of his fingernails scrapping over his scalp, sighing into the stream of water.

But the thought still haunted him, even though it was obviously true.

What Ladybug had said – that the sick, dark voice that hated his father and clawed and spat in the man's face, at least mentally, loathing him for trying to- to control him and turn him into a submissive little Disney princess, locked up in her tower, was really just – just _him_.

Was it? It seemed like the voice of an akuma or Hawkmoth, or, at least, what he assumed that monster would sound like inside of his head, tempting him towards darkness. Could you ever make peace with that? Work out a truce so that you both could survive and thrive... together? He didn't want to be at war with himself – the man his father wanted him to be and the man _he_ wanted to be and the ugliness that was always scraping around in the back of his brain.

When he shut off the shower to towel himself dry, the thought stayed with him. It was enough to banish the omnipresent need of his knot and his hormones, just for this night, at least, even as he clambered into bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Could he really make peace with that ugliness and not be a terrible person? Could he love all of himself, even the parts that his father had taught him to hate?

He fell asleep hoping that the answer was yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Adrien has taken to heart the idea that he should try to learn to accept his desires, as he always trusts his Lady's judgement. Hopefully the Ladynoir hit the right notes when it comes to showing that Ladybug is still brilliant and kickass, even as an Omega. 
> 
> I've never written male masturbation before. How was Adrien's "private time?" Too short? Not enough physical details?
> 
> We've also seen Adrien introducing Kagami's "girlcock," referenced in the tags, by way of his fantasy. It's one of the many interesting aspects of "ABO dynamics" works as it lends itself to a number of fascinating scenarios, including maledom in Alpha/Alpha pairings as the male teaches the female how to enjoy using her cock, or allows for "pegging" - which is great on its own in femdom - that the female partner can really enjoy herself, emphasizing the humiliation of the Omega male. 
> 
> I'd love to hear any thoughts that you might have, positive or negative, and thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has a rough day at home and school, finding little support until he realizes that, in the way that truly defines an Alpha, he already has the beginnings of a family. 
> 
> His thoughts take a turn towards the wholesome, now that he's let off some steam. After all, it's not just sex that he wants in his life.

As usual on a weekday morning, Adrien was roused from a fitful sleep by the piercing wail of his alarm clock. He knew from Nino's blurry-eyed but cheerful stupors before homeroom that his early morning enthusiasm was far from normal, but years of punishing, packed schedules offered a few benefits.

The best thing about having lived with a carefully maintained full agenda was that regular patterns let Adrien escape having to actually think about anything. Most days, everything went by wrote, and when that wasn't the case, he could just follow orders. It was so easy and so hard and so bitterly tempting to live without thinking. Sometimes, that was the only way that a person could live and pretend to be staying sane.

If you could call it living.

Adrien was fully-alert, showered, dressed, and ready to head out the door before Natalie gave him his ten minute warning for breakfast, all without having actually been conscious of his routine.

The real trouble arose when something broke the pattern; it forced him to start thinking and fearing.

His father was waiting for him in the dining room.

Even at this early hour as he was eating breakfast, his plate well-organized but replete with eggs and sausage that made Adrien's mouth water with the rich, savoury scent, he was wearing his suit. Perfectly tailored and pressed, it hugged his lithe figure and was [fitted to emphasize his ridiculous height](https://i.redd.it/uawc1v6jrtg41.jpg).

Adrien could only squirm under Gabriel Agreste's typically harsh scrutiny when the man set down a steaming cup of coffee and rose to survey him. His presence twisted the air around him into a miasma that a younger Adrien wouldn't even have had the senses to detect. Now it was the screams of a man being burnt alive, the scent of meat purifying, the sound of maggots crawling and feeding and bursting their larval shells.

There was the slick yet stilted way his father moved, the emotionless reserve that was as much a threat as any snarl, and the intensity of his light-blue eyes like cracking ice, just enough to let you see how fragile it was. One wrong move could shatter it and send you plunging into suffocating waters to drown alone in the dark.

As he stood before the meagre meal that had been laid out for him – just some fruit and toast, no protein – his father circled him. Adrien's hands twitched every time his father disappeared from view behind him. The presence hot against his back as his spine arched and tingled. A rumble tried to work its way out of his throat, which ached as he tamped down on the sound. His heart was in his head; the pungent odour of his father the only thing in his nose as the rest of the house was just as antiseptic as his bodywash and Gabriel flooded – _overwhelmed_ – everything.

“Adrien, have you deviated from your proscribed diet?” He was using his Alpha voice. Did he ever not use it? Everything was an order or a chastisement.

“No, father.” Adrien shook his head slowly, eyes to the ground _like a good bitch_. “I've been very careful to make certain that I only eat the meals that you send with me to school.”

“Why lie to me?” Gabriel scoffed as Adrien nearly leapt out of his skin when his father grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look into his eyes. It was like he wanted Adrien to break and look away again. Was that it? “You've put on weight. If you were holding to the strict calorie limits that we've discussed with your dietitian then you would be maintaining your figure.”

“I'm just growing,” he deflected, and for once, he didn't break eye contact. It felt important. “It's only natural that I should be putting on weight.”

That was meaningless to his father, but it was still good to hear it said.

“You're not an idiot, so don't pretend to be one. Weight does not appear as if by magic. It's a function of calorie intake and expenditure. Your diet is carefully tailored to ensure that you are in your best health while avoiding the buildup of unsightly-”

He paused and examined Adrien's chest before breaking eye contact. Was that a victory or dismissal? Adrien couldn't tell, but it didn't feel like he'd won anything.

In fact, the way his father's lips tightened up into a thin, compressed line almost caused him to wince because it was as if the way his muscle had started to strain his shirt was... something abject and abhorrent, like – like he was looking at a dead child.

“We'll need to increase your cardio to try to cut back on your muscle growth.” With that dismissal, directed more to Nathalie than Adrien himself, Gabriel released him and began to walk off towards his seat.

“Nathalie, arrange an appointment with our doctor and dietitian to attempt to correct this-”

Adrien was reminded of a line from one of his favourite childhood films: _you just gestured to all of me_. He had watched _How to Train Your Dragon_ in an actual theatre with his mother. It was nice to have an escape into happy memories. Even as they faded, memories let him endure, took him out of the moment.

His father continued, “And schedule another fitting for Adrien before his next photoshoot. I'm certain that our wardrobe team will wish to know that they will have to alter his outfits.”

And as Nathalie took down notes on her tablet, his father left, as if that was all that had to be said. Adrien was worth no more words.

He was permitted to shovel his peach and yogourt on a piece of toast into his mouth before his bodyguard escorted him out the door.

In the entryway, he paused, hands clenching. “Nathalie, could you reach out to the Tsurugi estate?” His father's musk was still in his nose. His Alpha voice echoed as Adrien curled his hands into fists, spine rigid.

“I- I feel that I should prepare for the – the upcoming fencing tournament that's scheduled next month, and I would probably benefit from Kagami's assistance.”

Nathalie's eyes flicked towards the dining area and back.

“Of course, Adrien,” she began slowly. “It is important to maintain good business relations with the Tsurugis.” The most Nathalie could offer was a sad smile, but that and her collusion were enough to make him love her.

He loved too easily. Maybe that's why his affections were inconsistent. Maybe that was why he was haunted by so many eyes, so many scents, so many people who deserved better than his instincts.

Already he was starting to _think_.

Her tablet beeped, and she turned away. “I would be happy to make such arrangements, provided that the Tsurugis are not otherwise engaged. You should hear back from me by this afternoon.”

Having settled into the back seat of his father's spacious luxury Tsurugi-brand car, Adrien had time to mull as he watched the traffic pass by on his way to school.

Even if he maintained an A average, “thinking” was always something that he hated. It... hurt because these days his thoughts always turned to either happy places that made it difficult for him to avoid embarrassing himself completely or “unhappy” places, as they did now.

All those eyes.

He'd thought about Marinette last night. Why? He never had before during his “private time” because she was – she was too precious a friend, too calming an influence for him to _sully_ her like that.

Luka was obvious. He was awakened... cute and kind, deferential and caring and warm in the _Liberty_ , packed so tight with flotsam that it was like his whole home was a nest. He was freedom and responsibility commingled – a parent to his younger sister since his father left, yet never burdened by that endless capacity to listen, never complaining about caring for Juleka and, in a way, for his mother as well.

Adrien could see him now, seated on the deck of the Liberty, eyes closed, reverent, lost in the sensation of his fingers on the strings of his guitar and the heart-song that flowed like cream and honey, fat and sweet. God, Adrien wanted that. He could never lose himself in his music when he was with his father. The wild free spirit of an artist and his cool, slippery personality made it almost impossible to predict exactly how Luka would express his concern – how he'd care and nurture.

Adrien reached over to his school bag and settled it onto his lap so that he could squeeze it tightly, needing something to do with his arms.

There were beautiful things in the world that had to be protected.

That was why he was Chat Noir.

Like Marinette, and for many of the same reasons, Luka would make someone a – a wonderful mate, pillowing down together in great masses of baby cashmere and mulberry silk with all the sweetness of vanilla and the sea air, home-baked foods and a wild-safe freedom. Gentle lullabies sung in Luka's sweetly harmonious voice as Marinette blushed without stuttering because she felt completely protected and warm and loved, overshadowed but not blotted out by Kagami's campfire and cinnamon musk.

The car window was cool against his forehead. He needed it. Needed to cool off, even though this – this wasn't _sex_ this time. But it was all spoken with the same mental voice, aggressive and demanding now also heavy like a weighted blanket.

Why was he thinking about her like this?

Like Ladybug, they didn't love him.

At least thinking about Ladybug had made sense; he'd scented her last evening for the first time since she'd awakened, but Marinette?

How could he not feel guilt over th-

He jerked when something clattered against the seat, crinkling. The shock had a growl spilling from his throat as he looked down at the... protein bar?

The Gorilla's eyes flashed up into the rear-view mirror and Adrien realized that they had arrived in front of Collège Françoise Dupont. Students were already pouring into the building through the entryway doors.

Looking at that little foil-wrapped packet and then back to the rear-view mirror, where he saw the Gorilla had turned away and was now examining the traffic, he felt light and full. He scooped up the packet and nearly crushed it in his hand while shifting his bag so that he could get out of the car.

Before he left, he leaned in to whisper, soft and sincere, "Thank you."

The Gorilla never smiled, but his eyes did, and that was enough.

It took only a few minutes to reach his class, and far fewer than that to polish off his snack. The rather scant meal was still a third of what he probably should be eating as both Chat Noir and a growing Alpha, but he'd take that over a piece of toast any day.

He hated the way that his presence stilled conversation, just for a moment, when he entered the room and took his seat. There were instinctual responses to an Alpha's presence, and they only made him feel more isolated; he had gone to school because he wanted friends and equals.

The room had an odd composition – too many Omegas and too many familiar faces from when he'd first arrived at College: Alix, Sabrina, Chloe, Lila, Nino, Alya, Marinette (who was unfortunately late or still absent), Nath, and him, all together still, alongside some other familiar faces like Marc.

Chloe's influence on the school by way of her father's considerable power probably accounted for the arrangement of their class. She liked being surrounded by Omegas, and tolerated Nino and Alya because they were his friends. It made it easier for her to assert dominance, and the reason for his presence as the only Alpha, unawakened to start the school year, was obvious.

The preening Lila across the aisle probably concocted some cock-and-bull story to get assigned to the same class.

He'd taken the high-road and sold his soul in a devil's deal to get her to leave Marinette alone.

Then, he'd have done worse, if necessary.

Now – now that Chat Noir had went his way to Marinette's balcony several times since his awakening only a few weeks ago, skin aflame, clawing at his costume, and felt her fingertips brush under the edges of his hairline and scratch deep, gentle with his twitching cat ears that were so sensitive, her scent and the softness of her belly as he pawed at her when he was desperate...

Now that he'd held her when she cried over the stresses that she wouldn't talk about, nuzzling her head and scenting her and telling her that- that she was a good... person and kind and giving and deserved the world...

Now, he'd do anything.

Class began, and it was all largely facile. He barely had to pay attention to the droning lecture. Could barely do it.

Marinette was missing another day of class.

 _He_ missed her.

Maybe Chat Noir could visit her again.

When it came time to complete their group-work assignment, Alix took Marinette's place as their forth member, sparing them from Lila, who wasn't quite so quick on her feet. It was kind of nice. Alix smelled... neutral. Like a child, in a way, because the hormone treatments kept her from awakening as ... whatever she would have been but knew she _wasn't_. She told them all at fourteen that she “wanted none of that bullshit,” and it seemed to be working for her.

Lunch rolled around quickly, but it hadn't been so bad today. His thoughts were firmly planted in his “big head” today, it seemed, and they always seemed to trail back to that nest of rare fabrics, sea breeze, vanilla, and cinnamon.

He had just settled in with his – he pulled the prepared lunch from his school bag – _lovely_ kale salad when an angel of mercy came to him.

Smelling slightly of sweat, bodywash, “unscented” deodorant, grease, and the press of other peoples' bodies, Nino waltzed over to his table, his girlfriend trailing after him. Both of them carted heavily-laden plastic trays with their lunches.

“Hey, dude! You put that... thing down right now.” His face curved with a horribly exaggerated frown that had Adrien laughing at just how 'severe' his friend was trying to appear.

An angel of mercy bearing gifts, which were proffered to him in a crumpled paper bag.

“Oh, Nino, man – I love you!” He nearly salivated, biting down on his lip to maintain the pretense of calm and control, as he tore open the bag and admired what probably should have been a revolting pair of half-crushed fast-food hamburgers that smelled like a cross between shoe-leather and heaven as they oozed with grease.

“Whoa, there, Sunshine. You look like you're about to make-out with that hamburger ... or with my boy-toy over here.” Alya waved her cell phone. “If it's Nino you're eyeing up, let me know, 'cause I'll need a minute to set up to record video.”

Adrien smiled and deflected, just like he was supposed to, even though being gifted with food by the other boy made him feel ... uncertain: flattered but angry at the same time, mostly at himself, because he shouldn't be _receiving_ food.

“Sorry about that, Nino,” he apologized for no reason, taking the half-wrapped hamburger from the bag and tearing off the rest of the slick paper, mostly translucent with fat. “I'm just really hungry this afternoon, I guess.”

Nino winked as he sat at his girlfriend's side, and that might have felt flirty enough to provoke a reaction, but Adrien's desires were firmly in the “food” territory at the moment. “No worries, dude. I know you always get a little riled up when it comes to burgers.”

“You're a gem,” Adrien mumbled, forgoing decorum in a way that was surprisingly satisfying as he tore into his meal. It was gone almost immediately. He inhaled it, provoking some sardonic slow-clapping from Alya. Nino only frowned when Adrien polished off the second one just as quickly, and the model was thankful that he knew not to say anything.

“So, Sunshine. I just got a message from Mari,” Alya said, twirling her cell phone.

“Really? She's feeling better? Does she know what was wrong or did she go to the doctor or-” Adrien blurted in a rush of unexpected eagerness that he only just managed to tamp down on.

“Easy, there. There's not much to be done. She's on the mend and should be good to go tomorrow morning,” Alya explained while she plucked a fry from her boyfriend's plate in a show of dominance.

“Are you sure? I- I'd be happy to pick up anything that she needs and drop it off and the bakery. I know that her parents are busy.” If he had been willing to pick up her constipation capsules, happy to know that he'd just been able to help, strange as it was for her to ask him, he was ready to seek out anything for her, up to and including feminine hygiene products if necessary.

“You know that gifts for a girl could be... misinterpreted, right?" Alya said with a curious glint in her eye that seemed a little too predatory for a Beta, and it tamped down on the excitement he'd felt on learning of Marinette's return.

"Oh, everyone knows that Marinette and I are just friends." That idea hurt more than it should if it were actually true. "No one's going to get any wrong ideas."

"Well, what about your girlfriend?"  
  
"Kagami?"  
  
Alya scoffed while Nino just started to stuff his face with food from his platter and keep his eyes off of them.

"Got another girlfriend we don't know about, Sunshine?"

Ladybug and Marinette herself came to mind. Luka too if he was willing to be a “girl.” Not something Adrien should be thinking about, clearly, even if Nino and Alya couldn't pick up on it, the other shifting and tensing Alphas and Omegas around the lunchroom surely could.

"Uh. Well. It's – I think she'd be okay with it, if they were for Marinette,” Adrien stumbled, clutching his thigh under the table to release stress. “I mean, Kagami really cares about her. They- they're really good friends too."

Now he was firmly on the “sex track” again with the thought of his girlfriend and Marinette being... very good friends to each other.

“You know, if you _are_ looking for another girlfriend, you might try to go for someone more compatible,” Alya teased awkwardly, forcing it, leaning in.

_Threat._

A great burst of white hot anger made the greasy mass in his stomach sit like lead.

“Alya, I would appreciate it if you were slightly more respectful of Kagami,” he growled low. Even Nino leaned away from him.

“I'm plenty respectful, Sunshine,” she soothed, smile cracking slightly as she held up a hand. “That just came out wrong. You know that I'm fully in support of people loving whoever they want, like Nath and Marc, whatever any asshole has to say about that. It's just that, statistically, Alphas can't go wrong with Omegas, you know? But you do you.”

“Thanks, Alya. I'm so grateful that I have your permission.” Air inflated his lungs, his muscles tensing at the – the lack of actual submission, and that was a terrifying feeling, but he couldn't stop himself. “I'll be sure to let Kagami know that our relationship meets with your approval.”

God, he was a hormonal little shit.

With a poke to her boyfriend's side, Alya appeared to calm. “Nino, let's get your bro a slice of pizza or something. Adrien isn't exactly himself on a two-burger belly.”

Dismissive.

Like she could just leave him.

Like she was better than him.

As they rose, he did the same and raced to the nearest bathroom.

A splash of cool water on his face calmed him, and he repeated it, cupping his hands under the flow from the tap to watch the chilly liquid pool, clear in his palms, before bringing it to his cheeks. Some of the water slicked his hair to his forehead and, after angling the jet of the hand-dryer to address the matter, he had to spend several minutes in the mirror “fixing” himself with a comb and some jell so that he would maintain the company image.

The chime of his phone, a snippet from the first notes of Bach's Kleine Fuge in G-moll, told him that Nathalie was trying to reach him. There was nothing but disappointment and a sickening chill.

_Tsurugis are occupied this afternoon. Meeting tomorrow at 16:30._

When he returned to class, he still didn't listen to the lecture. There was nothing there that he wanted to learn. He just fiddled with his pens and pretended to take notes.

With the chance to spar with Kagami gone, he longed to see Marinette, to peek into her warm, fabric-strewn room and see her laying there in bed, maybe snot-nosed but confirmed safe, and then crawl into bed with her to cradle her as she recovered. He could stroke her belly to soothe away the cramps, if that was the issue, or bring her her favourite soups or set up a humidifier to help dislodge his stuffy nose if she was phlegmy and gross and she'd wick away the heat in his skin, even if she was feverish.

Whatever illness she was suffering from, he'd gladly risk infection – minimal though it was as his costume protected him from all manner of harm, enhancing his immune system just as it rendered him almost impervious to physical injury.

But if he was being honest, he just wanted to see her and smell her.

Ignorance of the role of an Alpha outside of tropes from his favourite anime – he had learned that those were not to be entirely trusted – left him unsure. He didn't know much about what he was “supposed” to be, or who he wanted to be because the image was an incoherent mess of his father, his instinct, and his actual desires.

Yet he knew one thing: Alphas protected.

For all Chat Noir's bluster, flirts, and machismo; for all his dorkiness, which Adrien now recognized as such, because it was all Adrien knew about how to be a man, Chat Noir did that. He fought and died and... and he would even die permanently, without hesitation, if it meant keeping Ladybug safe, or protecting his city because that was where Marinette, Luka, Kagami, Nino, Alya (annoying though she was at times) and even Chloe (ditto), and the Gorilla and-

Oh.

Listing them off like that – the people he would die for, who meant something to him ~~who he mattered to~~ – felt better than he imagined.

All the ride home, he savoured that thought and the recognition that, while he might not have a pack in the way that Kagami wanted one, they were actually a little bit closer to having a family than he'd acknowledged consciously.

He'd protect them, at this moment, Marinette, whatever the cost. That was what an Alpha did, and what he – what he actually _wanted_ to do and that was a wonder for someone whose father had never cared what he wanted or needed.

If that meant burning up for another night without seeing Kagami or Marinette, letting her get the rest that she needed to recover, well, he was used to suffering for his Lady.

He'd gladly do the same for Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed the more contemplative and romantic turn to Adrien's thoughts as he tries to sort out his feelings and general obliviousness. 
> 
> Thank you all for the supportive comments and the kudos that this work has received. This is my first attempt at anything other than non-serious smut one-shots, so the feedback means a great deal. 
> 
> Hopefully Alya came across reasonably fairly. She's a good person, but has a one-track mind sometimes, especially now that she knows that Marinette is a "match" for Adrien.
> 
> Next chapter, Marinette returns to school a "changed" woman.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A somewhat more "emotionally honest" Marinette returns to school. As Ladybug said, impulse control is hard. 
> 
> Unlike Adrien, she has no trouble being a bad, bad girl.

Adrien had been under the impression that he understood his instincts; the sexual longing and the aggressiveness were, of course, impossible to control at times, especially when his reserve and resolve were swallowed up in Chat Noir.

The heat of battle, unpredictable, and the scent of ozone, or blood, or fear in his nose tugged up blood-lust, sent him into a destructive spiral out of a desperate need to pluck Ladybug or even random civilians out of danger – to protect or die or both if one was needed to accomplish the other.

Yet instinct was comprehensible; its limits and inclinations known.

Then Marinette had walked into class.

He hadn't understood his instincts at all.

At first, it had just been a rolling wave of _peace_ , growing muscle along his shoulders and back clenching and unclenching. Tension he hadn't even felt because he always carried it bled away like puss from a lanced boil. The pressure was gone, another pressure building.

Then he scented her at the same moment that he heard her voice, her wavering giggles triggered by something Alya said as they walked down the hall, but he had no idea what it was. He was deaf to every other noise; his nose was stuffed with cotton that let only her scent through.

While he gaped and tried to root about in his bag just to make it seem like he wasn't staring at her from out of the corner of his eye when she entered, the sun, moon, and stars walked into the room, face aglow, radiant and flushed in a way that he had never imagined.

Kagami smelled of alluring cinnamon and acrid bitterness that made him lick his lips.

Luka of the fresh and clean sea breeze that had him swelling with desire for him and for freedom.

Ladybug of heady roses now, and a lightning storm before, calming, alluring, and exciting.

His mother of lilacs. Childhood.

His father of death.

And he wanted to cry.

Marinette's scent...

She made him cry and he had to hide it. _God. He had to hide it!_

She smelled of home.

He didn't even know what that smelled like.

Now he knew.

Home smelled like Marinette.

It was kind of like Ladybug's, but softer, gentler. Fitting for their “everyday Ladybug.”

Everyone was drawn to her, even Lila, clustering around her like children at their mother's feet because Marinette had already been everyone's mother in a way: always listening, always sacrificing, always loving.

It was an excited huddle of Omegas and Betas who as if by instinct recognized that she was special as they plied her with questions and even the quiet Marc and Nathaniel were exuberant.

She never lost patience. Was never overwhelmed by them, and like a mother doting on her children, she brought gifts – food from the bakery that she had made for most of their classmates, and a knit hat for Alya.

There was even a little platter of macaron for Lila, which Marinette handed over while plastering on a fake smile, only slightly less tortured than the one that the Italian girl returned to her.

Then the anger came. He tried to fight it, but he seethed with rage, stewing and sulking like a little child.

Shouldn't she have something for _him_?

“Oh, Marinette. It's so sweet of you to think about me,” Lila cooed as she opened the small box of confections. “And you made salted caramel macaron. Those are my favourite.”

“I always try to remember everyone's favourite flavors, Lila.” Marinette nodded, prickling an instinct that demand he fold her into his body and just... hide her from the world and especially Lila's gaze. How would Lila twist the kindness into an insult?

There was only a ... sad smile. “I know. You-you're very thoughtful like that, Marinette. And I'm so happy that you awakened as an Omega. That kind of attitude is going to make your mate really lucky if you ever find someone who wants you.”

Of course they would; they'd get to eat Marinette's pastries every day. And smell her, the sweetest thing of all the wonderful treats that Tom Dupain had ever “baked.”

“That's very nice of you to say, Lila. I know that I'll be able to make _someone_ very happy,” she sniped, though Adrien couldn't understand the undercurrent.

“I'll be sure to share your lovely gift with my friends. I can't eat them, no matter how delicious they look. After all, I have to maintain my weight,” she preened, running her hands down the sides of her waist, emphasizing the curve of her breast and hips. “I am Gabriel Agreste's muse and one of his top models. I'm sure that your mate would lose his figure if he was given the chance to eat so many delicious treats, and I can't afford that.”

A slight undulation raced through Marinette's body, not quite a wince, but enough to have him leaping up to her, tugging her into a side-hug as even in his own nose, his scent heated and thickened. The bustle of the room quieted and then rose up again, strained and fake.

Marinette was small, soft, and delicate against his side when he curved an arm around her shoulders, only just deflecting away from her waist. Pupils blown and mouth flopping lightly, she looked up at him.

“They'd find a way to burn off all the calories,” Adrien sneered, savouring the increasing heat from Marinette. His chin pressed to the top of her head, and she nearly yelped when he scented her. _Asshole_. He shouldn't have done that without her consent.

Before Lila could ooze and slime her way into a more advantageous position in the conversation, Adrien tugged Marinette away to her desk, directing her motions, controlling her.

He hated himself as he let go of her to take his seat. After all the times that his father had stripped him of choice, how could he do the same for her? He had to be better. Had to hide just how much of a fuck up he was, and here he went screaming it to everyone.

As if she heard the petulant mental lament she paused while retrieving her school supplies from her bag and leaned toward him. The sun smiled. God, it could breathe life into a dead man, and – and was she using her scent? Could she do that? The waves of _home_ , a smell like the taste of honey – as if he was awash in golden sweetness that smothered the flames of his anger – crashed into him.

“Are you alright, Adrien?” she asked, upbeat, as she leaned into his desk.

He only just managed to nod, voice gone.

“He's fine, girl,” Alya said, almost as if jealous of her friend's attention to him. “He's just been testy over the last few days. It happens.”  
  
Marinette frowned, and there was something about the wan expression that made Adrien want to clasp his hands around Alya's throat. “I'm really sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling well, Adrien. Is there anything that I can do? My mother has a really great recipe for a ginger bok choy soup that's great at settling the stomach. I- I could bring it to you tomorrow, if you want.”

That offer did, in fact, settle his stomach.

“It's alright, Marinette. You don't have to worry about me.”

“Thank you for helping me with Lila,” she said slowly, leaning in so the other girl couldn't hear.

Alya's eyes narrowed for a moment.

A flurry of subtle blinks and a twitches of Nino's hand seemed to pass for communication between his best friend and Alya. If his instincts hadn't suddenly picked up the attempt to conceal the motion as a threat, he wouldn't have noticed.

Alya backed off, sliding back in her chair and refocusing on her cell phone.

“No problem, Marinette. I could see that you were feeling uncomfortable, and I never want you to feel that way. School should be a place where you feel safe,” he offered with a smile because it was true. School had been his escape. The place where, even now that he was imprisoned by his instincts, he wasn't surrounded by death. What would people say if they knew that he only felt safe when he wasn't at home?

The melancholy thought must have shown on his face.

“That's very kind of you, Adrien.” So much so that Adrien could see a slight mistiness to her eyes while she almost flopped towards him, splaying her forearms on her desk.

“Are you okay, girl?” Alya offered tentatively from her side, setting down her phone. A spurt of jealousy was hot in his chest when she touched Marinette's shoulder softly.

“Yeah- just... really kind of emotionally-raw. Everything's on the surface,” she mumbled.

“There's something to be said for honesty.” He glanced over at Lila, who was circling the class and being a “wonderful” friend by sharing the macaron that would spoil her figure. As if there was anything there to spoil.

“And there's such a thing as too much honesty,” she grumbled, nose scrunching up like an adorable, confused puppy that he wanted to scoop up into his lap.

To keep himself from exploring the image of Marinette curling up atop his crotch and groaning as he pet her, he slammed his textbook onto his desk and made a valiant effort to try to read the random page that had flopped open.

The fight against himself did not go well for either party involved. _If you think that I look bad, you should see the other guy._

There were few things in the world more frustrating than an overbearing guardian. His father organized his schedules meticulously, and the Gorilla was controlling out of concern, though he had loosened the reigns when Adrien had awakened and shown off some of his progress in akedo.

That was why he kind of hated himself for the rest of the day.

Caught up in the desperate need to ensure Marinette's safety, he shadowed her wherever she went. Through the rest of first period, he was a wall between her and Lila, interjecting into their subtle spates and undercutting the snide comments that Lila offered. The temperature in the hallways dropped a few degrees whenever Marinette passed through because he was exerting himself, calling up instincts he never knew that he had to puff himself up and ward off the a _bsolutely fucking unending attention she was getting from everyone!_

The sea of students parted and then swelled up around her. Alphas scented the air long before she passed and stared when they did, until they bristled and prickled, turning to glance at him instead as he abandoned even the pretense of reserve and exuded violence and threat in every subtle action and shift in scent.

They couldn't be allowed to touch her or even get close. He had to protect her. She was his to protect.

And he couldn't stop touching her.

Any excuse that he could find would do. She didn't need to be helped into her seat. He didn't have to carry her bag for her, easing it off of her shoulder – but he did because it smelled like her and the scent rubbed off on his hand or back – as she nodded eagerly at his gentlemanly and kind offer to “take the lady's bag.”

He kept _scenting_ her, rubbing up against her whenever she was near, finding ways to brush his wrists to her arms or nudge her with his chin. All the reserve imposed on him by his father might have held him back, but when he pressed in close, Marinette just smiled up at him brightly while her scent spiked with something that was bitter-sweet but even more alluring than her smell of home. It was the same thing, but tinged with a promise that he couldn't understand.

Gym was hell for everyone. It was obvious, of course, that Marinette was fit – compactly built and wiry. A thin pair of shorts clung to the smooth curve of her ass, stretching over the taut muscle and emphasizing the way that her butt stayed deliciously firm without the hint of a wiggle as she jogged or jumped.

Small, muscular butts were underappreciated and he had to rectify this oversight.

The tight tank-top she wore revealed glorious clusters of freckles on her shoulders, stars to compliment the warm sun of her face as she beamed at him throughout the entire session. He could only hope they were for him.

His rubber-necking led to him leaping face-first into a wall when going for a loose ball during basketball drills.

Sweat and exertion had her scent oozing trough the entire room, consuming it as he huffed and slavered and panted, not the least bit tired. Even betas like Nino had to see it.

It was there that the arousal hit full force. He _needed_ to bury his face between her fragrant breasts as she clutched him to her chest; revel in _making_ her sweat as he threw her into a wall and worshipped her body and broke her down into a sobbing mess, mapping out every fine inch and gentle curve of her figure by taste and smell and touch alike until she wound up so tight that she would explode in vicious and desperate pleas for him to – to make love to her.

Halfway through his drills, a break become absolutely vital.

As he toweled the sweat from his brow and downed an entire bottle of water just so that he could force himself to stop breathing for a moment, he stared out at her while she was stretching. Her flexibility was incredible, outstripping anyone else in the class – anyone else in the gym – when she raised her leg to the wall and leaned into it, nearly bringing her extended limb all the way to her chest.

She could lock her legs behind her neck, he bet...

Fire lapped at his balls and weeping cock.

Then, she moved to another stretch that nearly had him leaping out of his seat so that he could pin her and ravish her.

She knelt down, spine perfectly straight, knees unbent, and effortlessly touched her fingers to her toes, throwing her ass in the air.

 _Presenting_.

Her barely clothed pussy was angled right in his direction as she held the stretch for what felt like hours as he squirmed.

Even the other Alphas around him gave him a wide berth when he growled aloud, white-knuckling his knees to hold back from leaping across the room and knotting her in front of the whole gym or snuffling his nose into the crux of her thighs so that he could drown in the sweet honey-scent and taste.

He... he wanted her to sit on his face as he clutched at the fine muscles of her ass and she rode his mouth.

That was new.

He hadn't even know that was a _thing_ , but he certainly wanted it even if it wasn't.

Gym was effectively over for him at that point, and he had to retreat to the showers.

They were, however, occupied, and remained so. Even if they hadn't been, showing off your knot and erection were one thing. They were guys, and it happened. Jerking off in the showers was another entirely. The locker room always reeked of preening and competitive Alphas, shame, bruised pride, ego and machismo. That alongside the completely unheated shower was enough to cool him down.

Even though the scent of her was still hot in his nose, he hated washing it off of his body.

When he changed and left the locker room, toweling his wet mop of hair, refusing to style it again because he wanted it to be wild, he tried to find her and was shocked to find that he could actually track her to class.

That too was hell because he heard nothing, saw nothing, smelled nothing but her.

Whenever he craned his neck backwards under the pretense of stretching, she was looking at him. Of course she was. He sat in front of her, after all.

She fled from class when the teacher dismissed them, and shame over having chased her away because he was overbearing and aggressive and probably stank of confusion, longing, and a dozen different kinds of need, stopped him from racing after her.

As he gathered his things and shared a fist-bump with Nino by way of farewell, he realized something.

He hadn't thought about anyone other than Marinette all day. Sexually, at least. Outside of that first moment when he compared her scent to Marinette's and- and found it _wanting_ , he hadn't even considered Ladybug.

Shit. Fencing practice today was going to be followed by a long conversation with his ... prospective mate, Kagami.

Ginger steps carried him towards the school entrance as he weaved his way around students who were racing to escape. His gait was admittedly awkward because, as per usual these days, he was still hard, but this time monomaniacally focused..

Then, the scent carried him in a daze, bursting in his nose and sending his limbs flopping.

There, on the steps leading out from the school, she was waiting for him. Her hands were worrying together, nearly clenching, and he so wanted to scoop them up in his palms and kiss them and soothe away all of her worries – to keep her safe from her fears and the world alike.

“Hello, Adrien,” she greeted with a slow smile, looking up at him, eyes sweet and warm with shy amusement. “I was hoping to catch you before you left for the day.”

“Is everything alright, Marinette?”

“I – I wanted to give you something,” she replied, her hand tightening on the strap of her school bag. “I would have given it to you earlier today, but you- you seemed a little bit unhappy, and it didn't feel like the right time.”

“Oh- uh, really?” he fumbled, clinging tightly to her soft hand. When had he even taken hold of it? Her fingers were smooth and small against his palm, and her lack of stuttering had him lost. Had she smelled him earlier? Stupid. Of course she had. Did she notice that it was different for her, or... The palpitations of his heart became nearly painful. Had she thought he wanted her just like he did almost everyone else? That she wasn't special?

“Yeah,” she began, setting her bag to the ground and rummaging through it for a second before withdrawing a small box. Even as she shoved it in his direction, her eyes were shut tight and face clenched up. “Here.”

When he took the box from her, it was like that day years ago. Something electric and warm passed through his fingers as they brushed hers, and time seemed to freeze. She broke away with a shudder so that he could cradle the gift and ease off the top

Macaron.

He sniffed.

Passionfruit.

“You made these for me?” he asked, licking his dry lips.

“”And this.”

When he looked up from the perfect, glassy-smooth confections, he saw her holding out another gift: a black woolen scarf.

“It's not as nice as... as the one your father got for you, but it's warm and I thought that it might be comfortable as the weather starts to get cooler and I had a lot of time on my hand with a five day weekend that I took off to start to get a handle on everything so – so it wasn't any trouble to make, so if you don't want it or if it's not good enough-” she broke off and jerked her gaze to his face when he plucked the gift from her reverently, holding the box of macarons in his free hand.

It was woolly-scratchy, and tightly knit. Fluffy and warm as he brought it to his cheek.

It smelled of home.

He'd never wear his father's scarf again.

With a slow half-kneel, he put down the macaron, leaving them on the raised edge of the landing, and admired the scarf with both hands, testing its grid-line pattern with his thumbs. It was perfect. He raised it to wrap it around his neck, covering himself with her scent.

Marinette was staring, mouth parting and nostrils flaring as her breathing deepened into something hypnotic, rhythmic, slow, the rise and fall of her chest – had it always been that appealingly curved? – only enough to distract him from her eyes for a single moment.

Then, she was in his arms, hugged tightly and giving back just as good. Her strength wasn't even surprising. Who had initiated? Or were they just caught in each other's gravity, falling into one another by nature?

They stood clutched together for a moment and he hated that he had no idea what to say.

“You smell really nice, Adrien,” she muttered into his chest, the motion of her mouth and jaw thrilling.

The sweet scent of her hair and pheromones pouring from her scent glands had him lost, swimming in an ocean with nothing but clear sugar water surrounding him.

“Marinette... you smell like heaven.”  
  
“Really?” she breathed, tensing up.

“Yeah.” His cheek ran smooth circles across the top of her head before she tugged backwards to look him in the eye. He'd thought of her eyes as 'bluebells' before, but the way they darkened reminded him of Ladybug's cool confidence and made him feel like he could bed himself down in a field of flowers. “You always have, but I- I never realized it until now.”

“You- you were with me all day, so-” She snuffled the sleeve of her shirt, pressing her upper arm to her nose, and then looked back at him shyly, face stained red. “So, even after showering, I still kind of smell like you.”

Could he say it?

He already was.

“I like that too.” His thumb found her cheek, stroking as if he was trying to wipe away the blush.

She swallowed. “So- so do I.”

She accepted his scent. Maybe as pack. Maybe as a friend. Maybe as something else, especially with the -

_Jesus!_

There was a flood of want that was not his own, sweet where his was musky spice, and a beautiful blush on her face that complimented an expression that was heated in a completely different way and that he wanted to see again, and he was hard against her belly – and- and she could feel it from the way that she looked up at him as if in awe.

“Adrien, I-”

“Marinette, would you let me give you something?” he interrupted in a rush, trying to blink away the haze and he needed to speak because it forced his brain to work, rather than slip away into ... into that smell wafting up from between her legs. “To pay you back for the – the scarf and the macaron.”

Her face fell, and it nearly killed him how she was squirming in his arms.

“You don't have to ... pay me back, Adrien,” she muttered.

That wasn't what he meant at all, and his hands itched to tear out his own guts for making her sound like that.

“I want to give you something, Marinette – some... some fabric or something for your ... designs,” he began slowly, trying to get a handle on the anger that had him stiffening in her arms, not that he wasn't already stiff. He didn't know if he could say it, but Alphas protected even from the effects of their own stupid mouths. “I'd _want_ to give it to you even if you hadn't gotten me anything.”

He thrilled at the sight of her teeth worrying her lip, leaving it temptingly red. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he affirmed with a nod, tightening his hold on her waist to make certain that his hands didn't do anything .... wrong. “I am. I- I'll bring you something tomorrow, okay?”

She nodded, and the sun was back, even as it was darkened by the threatening clouds of their commingled scent.

The extent of his instincts had been something that he'd though that he understood, but he never felt this. It wasn't sex, and it wasn't nesting, or love, or any one thing. It was the heady mishmash of a dozen desires that he had no words to describe, and it terrified him especially as she left his arms.

He was weeping hard, lost in the sea of her scent that clung to him as he brought the edge of the scarf to his nose for comfort as he watched her leave.

It smelled of her room and of her, and now her sweetness was in his skin. He groaned as he scooped up her macaron and tripped his way down the stairs to his waiting car, gait awkward due to his attempts to conceal the effect that Marinette's scent still had on him.

Nothing in his experience had prepared him to deal with this – the conflicting desires and needs that a father should have explained to him. How could he find a healthy way to bring these feelings together, he wondered as the Gorilla guided him into the back seat of their car to take him to his arranged meeting with Kagami.

God. She was going to kick his ass in ways he couldn't even imagine. He was probably anemic with how much blood had shifted into his cock.

Marinette wanted him. Physically, at least. She knew about Kagami, too. Could she - could she want that too? _Her_ too?

How was he supposed to deal with any of this, juggle the need and the longing to protect, the 'hardness' and the softness so that he wasn't ... that he didn't reveal to Marinette or Kagami or any of the people he loved what a horrible disappointment he was? Did he love them? Was that what this was? How could he know?

He needed help. Had needed help for so long.

Nino was a beta, and a bit of a mess himself. He – he was a good friend, but didn't have experience or any real responsibility, and he was cowed by his girlfriend. Anything they said or did would get back to her and then to Marinette.

As if in an effort to dislodge the blockage in his brain, he smacked his skull back into the headrest behind him, the padded surface doing nothing to him. A few minutes of that kind of self-abuse did nothing to help address the issue of his erection; nor did it provide any insights.

There had to be something to take his mind away from this – to take him out of his body because it was just too squirming hot. Reaching out to pluck his ipod from his bag, it hit him:

Luka.

Luka had the perfect balance, it seemed. He knew how to be tied down and free; caring and reserved; warm and cool. That was what Adrien needed. Balance. The older boy had everything together, it seemed – all the incongruous little parts of himself that made him a wonderful friend and substitute parent for Juleka.

A male role model, even if he was an Omega.

Not ideal, but considering the alternatives were an ancient cheese-obsessed deity and his own father who'd had seventeen years to teach him _anything_ , that seemed a pretty solid choice.

While his driver navigated the streets of Paris, “ignoring” Adrien as he yet again broke his diet and enjoyed the two-fold bliss of Marinette's passionfruit macaron, he pulled his cell phone from his bag and composed what he hoped was a respectful text message to Luka.

 _ **Adrien**_ : _Hey, Luka. Do you have a minute?_

A little electric tingle of uncertainty burst in the base of Adrien's neck and had him clenching at the phone while he tired to distract himself by examining passersby from the car window, ears straining eagerly to pick up the chime of a reply.

That only brought his attention back to the fact that he was bathed in _Marinette_ and still very much feeling the effects.

When it came after only a few tense seconds, he jerked back to stare at his phone.

_**Luka** : Sure thing. Just finished school. Was going to practice._

Adrien winced. He hated to interrupt.

 _ **Adrien:**_ _Just wondering if you were free tomorrow evening._

_**Luka** : Your free?_

_**Adrien** : Around 20:00.Yeah._

_**Luka** : *you're_

_**Adrien** : Right. Don't want to impose, tho. _

_**Luka** : Not a problem. Love playing with you._

_**Adrien** : Same. Sure it's no trouble? I know it's last minute._

_**Luka** : Totally fine. You could have stopped by wo asking. _

There was that Luka kindness and generosity again. While he was pondering an appropriate response, another text arrived.

_**Luka** : Houseboat is always open to Rose. You too._

Adrien was well-aware that Rose's home-life was ... difficult. Her parents refused to acknowledge her relationship with Juleka. Was it better or worse that they didn't simply dismiss it as “a phase.” That comparison with Rose – the thought that Luka made it. Was he implying something?

_**Luka** : You alright?_

Adrien shook his head. It was rude to pause in the middle of a conversation.

 _ **Adrien** : Yeah_. _Just arriving at fencing practice now._

And indeed they were, the Gorilla pulling up to the curb at Adrien's fencing academy. Good that he hadn't lied. To busy his hands while he stared at the little chat-bubble, waiting for Luka as he typed out a response, Adrien exited the car and allowed the Gorilla to retrieve his fencing equipment from the trunk.

_**Luka** : Sure. I've seen you with Kagami. Very artistic motions. Good inspiration for a song. _

The praise for his form had him warm. Like an idiot, he nearly tripped over the edge of the first step while trying to compose a reply. Someone appreciated his performance.

_**Adrien** : Flattery. Let me know if anything comes from it._

_**Luka** : Yeah. Talk tomorrow at 20:00?_

Adrien paused at the top of the steps, just outside the entryway.

_**Adrien** : Sounds good._

_**Luka** : Great. Ciao._

Unable to restrain a little burst of giddy childishness, Adrien sent a cat emoji as a farewell.

Now, if only he wasn't still a walking hard-on, he might actually be able to offer Kagami a challenge.

And they probably needed to have a talk about ... all of this, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Alpha on Alpha sword fighting, as this chapter was already getting too long, but thanks to the very kind and detailed feedback from some of my readers like Givingitatry (whose sinful ideas are simply too good) and KingXerxes007 (Who hopefully enjoyed the Adrinette content), I'll definitely be including it next chapter as Kagami is going to find the comingling of Adrien and Marinette's scents as "frustrating" as Adrien himself does.
> 
> And thank you to all of you who took the time to leave kudos, comment, bookmark or just read the work. It is all very much appreciated.
> 
> It's going to be a ... brutal and messy fight. 
> 
> They also need to have a talk about where they stand. 
> 
> My posting schedule, as you can see, is probably going to be slightly irregular due to the demands of my job. Please accept my apologies for that. 
> 
> And Lila has some things to report to Gabriel Agreste regarding Adrien's unacceptable behaviors at school, as their response to Adrien's defiance comes into focus.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Kagami have their long-awaited fencing match, and Adrien learns yet more about his desires when confronted by another Alpha who has made her desire for him obvious.

The moment that Adrien crossed the threshold into the main area of the D'Argencourt fencing academy, Kagami let her sabre clatter to the ground. Sheer shock at the disregard for her prized position was enough to stop Adrien in his tracks as his fencer-girlfriend jerked her head in his direction to glare at him suspiciously.

Then, as per her life's adage, she showed no hesitation, marching up to him and bending into his personal space. Her presence flooded his nose with musk and spice – something like anger – and it mingled with _Marinette_.

He grumbled low in his throat, the sound tinged with a hint of threat and longing at the strange admixture that left him swimming as the other Alpha stood at a just respectable distance.

She snuffled his chest, seeking out all those spots where he already knew Marinette's scent was strongest and sweetest. What would she think of that? He knew that she wanted a pack, but...

With a glance towards the other assembled students, she chuffed and repositioned him by sliding her hand along his hip in a slow caress, guiding them both into the corner of the room.

Distantly, he recognized that the other students were still watching while pretending to busy themselves in organizing equipment, chattering with each other, and finishing match preparations.

After several moments of silent interplay, the spiking scent of her drawing his nose to her hair as his blood heated dangerously, she pulled back to stare at him. Even with two years of dating as he tried to get over Ladybug and the added benefit of Alpha senses that let him pick up on her moods more easily, she was still difficult to read. That unknown was kind of a thrill. Her molten yellow-brown eyes were glazed with aggression and longing that was so strong she looked like she was on the verge of trying to force him to the ground to either eat him or rut him ... or both at the same time.

“You reek of Marinette.” Another lingering breath that puffed up her chest as she flaunted herself and made herself seem larger, more robust, sent shivering pangs through his stomach, spine, and cock. She grinned at that, feral and toothy, and he really wanted to grapple her down to the ground and wipe it off her face. “And rut. Is this why she cancelled our orange juice date on Saturday?”

For the Alpha who had been courting him, in a strange dance that both of them had to feel out and still were, he suppressed another growl and all the other desires. The thought of her taking Marinette on a date, or Marinette taking _Kagami_ on one was gorgeous and it made his blood boil.

Could instincts make sense for once? It was all protect-fuck mate-fight knot-watch love-anger dominate-cherish. If they just told him to do one thing, and not the opposite at the same time, at least he could fight it.

“We met after school and she wanted to give me a gift that she had made while she took some time off school. Her awakening hit her kind of hard.” To be fair to her, he should really explain. “Nothing happened, really.”

“Other than you scenting each other?” Kagami cocked a brow.  
  
“We just hugged,” Adrien insisted roughly. Why did he feel like he was being attacked?  
  
“I can smell that.” The Alpha's laugh was as sardonic as any he'd ever heard from her. “The real surprise is that you were able to hold off claiming her right there if she smelled half this sweet.”

“I'm not going to take arousal as consent. That's not how this works – not how it ever should have worked.”

“A laudable perspective, Adrien, particularly when it concerns Marinette. I suspect that our parents would find it far too progressive, but I do not believe that you are wrong in that, at least.” She shook her head, putting a hand to his back so that she could tug him along towards the changing area.

“What do you mean by that?” There was little else that he could do but surrender to her grip as she womanhandled him towards the locker room, even if he had to suppress a growl.

“That's a conversation for you to have with Marinette.” Reaching the changing area, she seemed to be willing to let the matter rest, even as the heat of her cinnamon-scented arousal rolled over him in waves. She gestured for him to enter the changing room.

Corded muscles straining in his shoulders, and a bubbling anger he hadn't expected wicking away sense, he found that he didn't like being told what to do.

“What if I want to talk. Now and with you?

A small snarl creased Kagami's lips as the grip on his arm became biting. The scream of violence and threat and attempted dominance had him rising up to emphasize the disparity in their heights.

She just threw him a smile.

“Good for you, Adrien.” Kagami nodded, and her hand relaxed, not quite letting him go but instead shifting into an easy squeeze as she pet his arm. Rather than taking on that acrid gun-powder scent of her anger, the sweet musk only intensified.

Challenging her... turned her on. He licked his lips and took in her expression. The feral longing in her eyes was still there, but they had shifted into something strangely warm – especially for her.

She ran the back of her wrist over her nose and huffed out snort. “I think that Marinette's scent may have affected me more than I realized, and it was good of you to stand up to that. It bodes well for you.”

“So are we going to talk now?”  
  
“I still believe that we should exercise first. The academy will close in only a few hours, and we will have a great deal of time to talk then.” She looked him straight in the eye, and he was surprised to find that it didn't prick at his instincts. “What do you think?”

It was a choice to be made together. Neither of them in control. To dominate or be dominated was always a prison in its own way, and both of them had lived their lives in gilded cages.

“I- I think that's actually a good idea.”

“I'm pleased that you do.”

He changed hurriedly in a fumble, keeping Marinette's scarf separate from his clothes when he stuffed them into his bag, trying to preserve the scent. It was still so strong and sharp that he wondered if it he had to. It was like it would never wash out.

He met his girlfriend on the piste, and they fell into their routine, Kagami smirking at him hungrily, eyes alight with glee and heat as she offered him a salute with her sword. They began.

“Mommy and daddy are fighting again,” came the snickers of one of the other fencers from the crowd of spectators.

A flush worked its way down Adrien's throat when his sensitive hearing allowed him to pick up the soft, snorted reply, “Daddy, why are you and mommy wrestling? Can I play too?” A low wolf-whistle followed.

It was one thing to fantasize about you and your girlfriend knotting a cute, caring, supportive classmate while in the privacy of your bathroom; it was quite another to hear your fencing teammates chortling over the idea of you holding a “deciding match” with that same girlfriend

Kagami's pheromones poured out, heady and threatening and spicy-sweet through their matches. Each round grew progressively more fraught and furious until they lost themselves to the slippery hot exchange, each match tense. Sabre tips caressed as they felt each other out, tested for movement and intention before falling on each other time and again.

Instinct warred with training, coaxing him to grumble and chuff and surrender to hyper-agression, ignore reserve and skill, and he saw the same in her stilted motions. It was a second, or even third layer of _challenge_. Who would win as they danced around each other, forgoing their piste and ranging the gym, though not quite so wild as they were that first day? More than that, who would break under the swell of instinct and dive forward with a clumsy-aggressive thrust that they needed, but would only be a loss because they had _broken_.

Been broken.

Their judge gave up and left them to their increasingly sloppy motions; skill was slipping away, but reading of tells, subtle motions, and reaction times were tested, improved.

Even though both their bodies were finely-honed, and those oppressive Alpha tendencies kept him – or her – from getting hard, they were aroused. Blood diverted to their straining muscles by frantic hearts as they panted and sweat, crashing into each other and withdrawing, never satisfied because there was always more to give and more to take.

Need-aggression dripped from her – a sickeningly disgusting scent from any other Alpha, but from her something exotic and forceful –, but it wasn't enough to overpower the lingering sweetness of Marinette that almost felt like it was a part of him. Kagami radiated longing with each thrust, parry, or feint, the heat coiling and mounting with every match.

Eventually, they came to a stop, weaving around each other, and Adrien didn't even know how. They must have cooled, slowed, gradually ramped down their fight, but he couldn't remember it – or anything about the fluid interplay of their battle.

He just found himself staring down at her, both their fencers' cages laying on the ground. Sweat matted her hair as she gulped down air and her brown eyes were liquid fire, earthy heat. They gleamed with hunger and want, not all of which was directed towards the tempting omega they could both still smell inside of his skin and soaked into the scarf that he had in his bag even all the way on the other side of the room.

The tang of her possessive and aggrieved pheromones was hot on his tongue as he just held off from panting. She was scenting the entire room, trying to coax him to do the same by bearing her throat in a show of unexpected vulnerability just for him, calling on his own instinct for dominance. The other Alphas grew taut with agitation and - and _fear_.

He liked that scent too, though he hated himself for it.

They were afraid of him and Kagami, and they should be. And if they were afraid, they wouldn't threaten him. His heavy eyes half shut, he leaned into Kagami to take in more of her; and she did the same, reveling in scent-marking him as he did her by easing her wrists along his shoulders while she held him and she slid her throat to the ridges of his chest while also accepting his nuzzling of her hair.

They were only about two steps away from rutting in the middle of the piste to seal the agreement that was as obvious to them.

No one would ever take Marinette. She was theirs.

He didn't think that, not willingly or consciously, but instinct screamed it.

It was all so obvious, not to his fretting and unsteady mind, to the boy who hadn't been taught how to be a man or an Alpha, but he knew it nonetheless deep in a hidden part of his heart and gut.

Together, he and Kagami could keep anyone safe, and that was what an Alpha did, so of course they needed each other.

That was the resolution he clung to and that allowed him to get through the verbal chewing out by Monsieur D'Argencourt. Their instructor had ripped into him and Kagami for their shameful display. They'd practically been fucking in the middle of the gym (That seemed to be a running theme for Adrien today). Kagami standing tall next to him, hand locked with his, they weathered the scorn that made him think of his father, the anger and the chastisement, even if he was a little guilty for having bathed the entire room in his aroused musk.

That wasn't _proper_.

He couldn't even bring himself to care that the other Alphas looked ill, while the Betas were confused, or that his father would catch wind of this too.

They were banished from the academy for the rest of the day, only being given enough time to gather their things from the locker room.

The moment they stepped outside, Adrien shouldering his bag, Kagami wheeled on him and her lithe form slammed into his chest, forcing him to scramble back into the wall as she grabbed his head and pulled him down into a violent kiss, hands ranging over his cheeks, throat, and broad shoulders.

Thought gave way to nature as he responded to the robust and fragrant woman in his arms, arms curling around her waist as he tried to mount a defence against her probing tongue. Kisses and even heated passion were nothing new between them, though she'd always spared him during her ruts before he awakened, but this fury was something else entirely.

She consumed him, the odor of her need and just _her_ flaming inside of his skull, heart, and groin. It was fire and ice; something that could burn, soothe, warm, freeze, or kill in equal measure, and it was a thrill – the exact opposite of Marinette, but good because – because it was safe, a danger like Ladybug's lightning that fit into him and worked alongside of him.

Because Chat Noir was dangerous, and, Adrien realized, he could be too.

Just being dangerous didn't make you bad. Everything depended on what you did with that power.

Her tongue explored his teeth as he refocused on her, his bag falling to the ground as he cupped her rear. The muscle was firm as he pawed and squeezed the curve of Kagami ass, delightfully small and taut in his aching, itching palms.

“Adrien,” she gasped as she pulled away, and he loved the breathy weakness of her.

“Kagami, what are we doing?” He trembled, struggling against himself to keep from kissing her again as she licked him under the chin – took his scent and teased her teeth around his throat, threatening, but comfortable.

“You don't know what we've just done?” she asked, face pinching up in confusion.  
  
“We had a fencing match.”

For a moment, it seemed like she didn't know if he was joking.

“Yes,” she offered, taking a few deep breaths to cool herself, and he couldn't help but regret the way she pulled back. “We fought, neither of us conceded defeat, and we both accepted that, yes?”

“It was just that I didn't really feel the need to win or lose – I mean, I still want to, but-” He didn't know what to say; he just wanted her to close the distance between them again. Her trim, muscular figure had fit into his arms so – so differently from Marinette's soft form, but no less comforting. He longed for it. Maybe he just longed to hold anyone – anyone who he could love or who could fight for him.

“But it is enough to fight and test yourself. The struggle is an end unto itself,” she offered with a knowing smirk. How could she understand him better than he knew himself?

“I guess that's true.”

“I... do not wish to pressure you, as we have made that mistake before,” she offered tentatively, shifting so that she now leaned back to the wall next to him. “But I took this as a sign of your acceptance of me – of _us_.”

Could he accept her? His revelation regarding their combined abilities that could let them keep each other safe – keep an Omega or a pack safe (Ladybug, Luka, Marinette, even _Chloe_ ) – made it... so damnably tempting. They could start a family – have a real family – just like they could have a real home: Marinette.

If – if she'd accept them. He wanted that. All of it. Was that – could he be that greedy and not be a horrible person?

Kagami's want and need were obvious, visible and almost palpable on his tongue and flooding his nose, as she waited for him.

She hesitated for him.

He wanted all of this.

His father made him feel like wanting anything was wrong.

It was time to set that right. To be selfish for once.

“Would your mother mind if I visited your home so that I could take a shower?” He sniffed his shoulder and only thrilled at the conjoined smell of their exertion.

Kagami cocked her head.

“Not in the least, Adrien. She is quite pleased at the prospect of our mating. One of her great concerns is that a weak partner would distract me from my training. Another Alpha who could care for himself, and address the needs of a pack if necessary, would be... a relief to her.” Kagami put a hand to his chest, splayed over his nipple, as her ragged breathing picked up. “Would you like to join us for – for a shower and dinner?”

“I – yeah.” He nodded. “I- I think that I do want to stop by the Tsurugi estate for a shower.”

His girlfriend, and maybe a – a mate who was everything that he needed to make sure that his home stayed his, could be his or, at least, would be safe even if she didn't want him back, grinned.

For now, that seemed like it was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter, which is really just an erotic evolution of the sword fight that began here, and an extensive conversation once their heads have cooled, will be posted in the next few days. It's nearly done already, save for some finishing touches. 
> 
> I hope that you enjoyed the contrasting relationship dynamics between Adrien and Kagami, and that his hormonal fixation and decisions regarding a pack fit well with what we've established thus far. Kagami isn't just a means to an end, though; he sees her - as she views him - as a partner who can actually support and defend him. That, along with love and kindness, is something that he never got from his "old" family. 
> 
> Kagami will have more to say on that next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Kagami have an unexpected encounter with Tomoe, hold a decided sword fight in Kagami's bedroom, and then, as is the case in every healthy relationship, talk through their concerns. 
> 
> France's future power couple are just about ready to form a pack, but a storm greater than even Kagami herself seems to be on the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned that Kagami and Adrien are going to both use their penises here. Docking, knotting, and cumplay are going to be at work here, and both Alphas have something of a breeding kink.

Inside Tatsu, they collided again, struggling to consume each other, all lips and tongue and clawing hands that left their clothes dishevelled. It was a fight where there was no loser. Fierce and hard with need, Kagami pinned him to the back seat, leveraging her agility in the confined space. She lay out flush on him, claiming his mouth as a prize he gave happily while stroking his hands down her back and massaging her ass. Smooth muscle resisted his squeezing hands. What would it feel like if he won – pinned her, took her?

As _mates_ , they – they would both find out one day.

They whined for each other, the sound echoing and reverberating with their reciprocal growls as if they didn't know whether it was submission or conquest they wanted or needed in that moment.

Adrien almost fainted with the rush of blood and sensation, Kagami grinning into their kiss as they swelled against each, when he realized it.

They could have both. Together.

They stumbled out of the car when it reached the Tsurugi estate, trying desperately to fix their clothes and settle their obvious _need_ , even though it would make no difference to the nose of another Alpha-female like Tomoe.

The Tsurugi matriarch was reserved and respectful as she welcomed him into her home. Her reliance on scent and instinct to supplement the loss of her eyesight had left her no less skilled or capable.

In the past, she had always seemed to merely tolerate his presence. This time, Adrien showing proper deference because it was still her territory, she chuffed at them, though there was something ... matronly about her smell. It wasn't ugly like his father's; instead, she spoke to them briefly before telling them that she would be departing for the evening and would stay at the Trurugi offices tonight. She “Had no desire to hear or smell her daughter and her boyfriend rutting.”

It was kind of obvious what they planned on doing when they swaggered in, reeking of lust and panting for each other, but she ... countenanced it and accepted it and _encouraged_ it so easily.

Adrien almost felt accepted himself.

Harsh as she often was, when she closed distance on him, he tensed up, bristling under the pressure of her presence and her scent. His father, miles away inside the secured, austere Agreste mansion assaulted him even here. The sense of his disapproving loathing for – for Adrien's being an Alpha and not _submissive_ was enough to sour his scent and had his spine and hands aching. It took effort not to snarl. If she scented or sensed the child's fear that still ate away at him, Tomoe didn't show it

Then, she slipped her palm to his arm and ever-so-gently scented him.

As he stared up at her, slack jawed and no-doubt looking like an idiot in parallel with his girlfriend, he- he had to stop himself from crying again.

What a hormonal mess he was. All that _Alpha_ in him just bled away so easily when – when he was accepted, with the smallest act. He still didn't have balance. That meeting with Luka was probably just as necessary as his time spent with Kagami and some extensive interactions with Marinette if they were going to court her as a pair.

As if there was any doubt about that now.

Without a word, Tomoe left him and her daughter to stare after her as she gripped her bokken, using it as a walking cane, and calmly strode out of the home, bringing up Tatsu on her remote.

He and his girlfriend shared a glance and he almost laughed at the expression of shock that had Kagami's face twisted up cutely as she scratched the back of her head. That was unexpectedly... warm, insofar as Tomoe Tsurugi was capable of it.

Words were unnecessary; they had said everything that needed to be said already on the piste, with a few minor points of clarification and translation on the steps. Pride was warranted too, really. It felt like he'd ... made progress with Kagami's partnership. God, that was amazing to think.

Instead, shaking off the stupor, she simply threaded her hand with his and led him up the stairs to her room

The strangest thing about this surreal experience, even more bizarre than Tomoe's blanket acceptance, was how he felt as he was guided up the wide stairwell and into Kagami's room.

He wasn't worried.

The room was spartan, as befit his no-frills girlfriend. He set his bag down at the side of the door, right beside hers.

A wall of trophies was a testament to all of her accomplishments but aside from a writing desk, chair, and a few bookshelves along the back wall beside her closet, the room was mostly empty, save for the silly stuffed dragon he had won for her on a date to a fair nearly a year ago. She had looked at him with a raised brow and then blown twenty-five Euro playing the same game just to win him a plush dog that was one size larger.

They'd probably have gone on like that if Marinette, Nino, and Alya hadn't pulled them away to the rides.

Looking at that stuffie, and then to his girlfriend as she folded her arms around his waist and nosed his chin, he just felt... calm. Certain. He knew what was going to happen, he wanted it, she wanted it, and anyone or anything that had a problem with that could go screw itself.

Was this how a fully-developed, stable, and – and competent Alpha felt all the time? Not walking hard-ons or bundles of needs and aggression, but... self-confident?

Caught up in his thoughts, he didn't even registered Kagami's wuff of impatience until she demanded his attention by angling upwards and tugging him into a heady kiss that had him reeling on the back-foot. Her weight shifted and all that coiled and developed Alpha muscle was enough to send him stumbling back into the wall as she feasted on his lips, all nipping playful aggression. He moaned into her mouth, hands scrabbling for a hold on her side or hip.

And then they were lost, both frantic, tearing at each other's clothes. God her smell filled him up in ways he'd never imagined. All that fire, energy, and need was caked into his skin. He had to taste it, had to have her, so he tore his mouth from hers and pressed lower, snuffling her neck and adoring her shocked gasp as he laved his tongue over her throat. _Kagami_ burst in his mouth, sweet fire and addictive.

He needed her to whimper and break for him, but she shoved him away so that they could both nearly rip through their musky and dishevelled clothing.

Instinct beyond reason, flame on flame, rose up and sang that ancient song of _mate-fuck-please_ with a sweet antiphonal note of _love_.

He'd thought that he was ready – prepared after having Marinette in his arms, tempting and pacifying, but she was warmth and home.

It was different with Kagami as she tossed her shirt aside to expose her breasts. The slightly olive orbs were capped off with peaked nipples, her arousal obvious as she smoothed her hands down her chest and the robust lines of her abs. All the models he'd seen were waifsh, thin. Kagami bristled with thick muscles that mirrored his own, and, _fuck_ , it was perfect. Her body was perfectly-toned power, compact, deadly.

She smelled of gunpowder and longing musk that had him reaching out to grasp her chest, rolling them in his hands as she smirked at his hormonal eagerness.

It was different than Marinette because Kagami was fire, and the heat of her seared his palms.

“You can take them in your mouth, you know?” Kagami teased, pulling his head down towards her breasts. Instinct without thought drove him forward and he delighted in each groan and whimper he could drag out of her as his mouth closed around her nipple. The soft, fragrant flesh tasted so good, so soft and sweet and salty against his tongue as he suckled and worshipped.

“Good boy – such a good Alpha.” The way she huffed into his hair, cock swelling against his hip, was a thrill, but _that_! He'd never heard it before, and it was only now that he realized that he _wanted_ to be a good Alpha.

Something about the way her body curved and arched when he pulled away from her pebbly-rough nipple sent shivers into his gut. Saliva left her glistening, the tender flesh shuddering with the heartbeat that rocked through them both and his lips trailed kisses across her cleavage and up her throat to bathe in her pheromones. He swayed, fully hard and pained with arousal, at the smell as she scented him all over, claimed him as hers. It was liquid bliss prickling at his skin like static before a thunderstorm, and he sighed into her, needing her and needing _more_.

Planting his hands to the wall on either side of her smaller form, pinning her only left her hands free to range over his body as she rub her cheek to his before delving lower to allow him to mark her as well.

She kissed him, and for just a moment, it was soft after their mutual claiming, and then fierce and needy.

“Take off your pants,” he grumbled against her lips, planting a parting kiss that she tried to turn into a fight, though he denied her. “I want to see you.”

“Oh, so _demanding_ ,” she snorted. “Best not speak that way with an Omega. They'd be quivering at your feet, or flagging so you could knot them.”

“I- I don't-” God. He trembled. Her arms and torso were all fine arching muscle, bunching up as she slipped her thumbs into the waistband of her jeans. What did you say to that? To any of that? _Marinette slipping off her pants, flagging, needing him._

Then, for a moment, Marinette was completely wiped from his mind.

 _This_ was the body of an Alpha who had actually had time, and a diet and regime to develop properly.

He'd felt her cock as it swelled up inside of her pants while they got tangled up in each other's arms and scent, but he'd never actually seen it.

“God, Kagami, I-” He clamped his teeth down on his lip.

Now he did and he'd never even imagined it. No masturbatory fantasy really compared to the real thing that stole his breath away as she smirked at him with glee and tugged off her pants, leaving her only in her underwear.

“Oh? Do you like it?” She turned, showing off in smug Alpha pride, as her pants fell to the ground. Her underwear tented with her heavy weeping arousal, two wet spots capping them off, one right at the head of her straining cock and the other lower, framing her pussy. For Kagami, it was ... natural. Like picturing her without a cock would have been wrong – ridiculous.

She wasn't meant to be bred.

Then, without further preamble, she slipped off her bulging underwear and tossed them in his direction, reflex leading him to snatch them out of the air.

A few quick pumps had him trembling, just as she obviously hoped. With its thick lines and slightly curved shaft and heavy musk, her cock was alien and familiar at once as it strained and twitched, jutting out from the top of her pussy, lips spread and glistening. There were no balls or foreskin, obviously. An intense musk that had him torn between the burning need to fight and fuck rose from the slightly drippy head as she watched him admiring her dick.

“Touch me, Adrien,” she hummed without even the slightest shame, inviting him to cradle her cock.

He wanted to see it, more of it; more of her, and god, he had no idea what he was doing as he reached out to take her twitching penis into his hand, giving it a tentative stoke as she gasped.

“There you go, Kagami. D-Does that feel good?” He wanted to be dirtier – ask her if she liked her Alpha stroking her cock, but – but her couldn't bring himself that far.

“A-Adrien, so _soft_!” she gasped, clutching onto his forearm to try to force him to move faster. As she humped into his palm, soft and slick in his hand, he realized that it wasn't really that different from touching himself.

Suddenly, his hand was caught between them. She surged forward, laughing, and their lips were together, fluttering apart again in a sloppy-awkward kiss because puffs of her breath washed over his face and she couldn't hold back the giggles that were hiccuping and awkward and adorable.

Her hand trailed down the smooth and slightly rippling skin of his belly to cup him between his legs. Kagami was almost always unflappable, poised and reserved, and there was something that made his want so bad – so painful – when her forehead creased with surprise as she felt him, fingers trying to weigh his cock and knot.

He was bigger than her, and she knew it.

“Hm.” A hiss rose up when she palmed him. “I hope that we have at least one male Omega.

“Oh,” he grinned, grabbing her hand and forcing her to stroke him more firmly through his pants. “Why is that?”

Her fingers probed his knot, dragging out a frustratingly submissive yelp when she measured the heft of his base.

“It's going to be incredible to finally see you knot a male omega with this.” Their cheeks came together in a nuzzle as he gaped at the idea. “I've thought about it so often.”

He chuffed and choked at once, staring. “How can you just _say_ that so calmly?”  
  
“I've been through a half dozen ruts. After that, it's hard to be ashamed of a simple fantasy. Don't you enjoy the thought of it?” she pressed, licking her lips as if she was about to set into a meal.

“I- I'm more interested in women,” he half-lied. The idea of knotting another male had a certain feral allure not so different from the sensation that he got from his duel with Kagami, but it sang to his need for dominance. An Omega was – she gripped him harder; she must have picked up the shift in his scent and his twitching – was meant to be _protected-loved-bred-dominated._

“Oh, so you don't want to pin Luka to the ground and mount him?” Slow stroking motions against his crotch dragged up a growl and he had to fight off the instinctive desire to let his eyes roll shut.

“I thought that we were- we were talking about Marinette.”

“We are, but do you think that two Alphas could be satisfied by one omega, no matter how incredible she might be? Would you really put all of that on her?”

“N-no... that wouldn't be fair.” A pair of horny Alphas would just … destroy Marinette. If they got help, she deserved it too.  
  
“So, Luka. I know that you must have thought about knotting him at some point. I know that I have. He has a very attractive scent.”

 _Fuck_. That image: Kagami sliding her cock along Luka's cheeks, slipping into his asshole that dribbled with slick after he'd been worked up and teased to the point of begging and desperation, while Marinette watched from their nest. Her face would be pinched up in awe and jealousy as her Alpha-female fucked Luka loose and bred him – another mother to match her with her swollen belly.

The idea of sharing a mate – multiple mates – with her – watching as she pleasured them and cradled them and bred them had him painfully hard. A family, growing larger and larger, crushed together in one expansive but intimate nest... It was too much to bear.

He had to be naked like her. In a fury, accidentally tearing the button off his jeans as he hobbled on one leg and nearly collapsed to the floor, he _was_ and she was on him again.

They fumbled through another kiss that he wanted to keep gentle just for a moment because it was like they were sealing a pact – not rutting just yet, but agreeing that there was something between them that they had to be gentle for – _someone_. Then, as he started to lose himself in her lips, enjoying the little, growing battle for dominance as she stroked his sides, their cocks brushed.

A hand fell to his jaw to guide him deeper into her kiss while her fingers brought both of them together, curling around their brushing, slick heads. It was soft and sticky as their tips caressed again, slicked with drooling precum.

His hand joined hers as he gulped for breath, trapping them together. He could feel the hot hard-soft flesh of her cock in his palm and his hypersensitive member as they ground against one another, testing and trying to provoke each other.

It _really_ wasn't so different from jerking himself off, though instead of butting up against his balls on each down-stroke, there was a different radiating heat rising moist from her cunt as his fingers slicked with her dripping need at the base of her phallus.

“Wait,” she groaned with a slightly sloppy motion, hand pulling away. When he looked up from her cock, he almost lost himself at the the intensity of her eyes. “Get whatever it is the you have in your bag.”

“What?”

“Whatever smells so much like Marinette,” Kagami clarified as if it should have been obvious, breaking away from him to head over to her dresser. “Unless you want to go all the way tonight, I'll get a toy.”

“You- you use toys?” he gaped as the thought, although he did scurry towards his bag. The thought of smelling more of Marinette – like she was here with them, about to be held between them washed away almost any other fear or hesitation.

“Of course.” There was that challenging laugh again, and he could barely breathe at the chuffing sound when she withdrew a lengthy tube made of clear silicon and a bottle half-full of viscous liquid from her drawer. “Do you think that I was able to get through my ruts without having several toys?”

“Oh?” he choked out at the thought of her weathering her ruts and nearly wished that she hadn't been so considerate as to “spare” him for two years. Of course, she was right; he hadn't been ready.

“You don't?” Her head quirked in clear confusion. “My mother bought a half-dozen when I first awoke.”

“Uh.” He rubbed the back of his neck while cradling Marinette's scarf reverently. “Not really.”  
  
“It's good that you won't need them. By the time you reach your first rut, you'll have both me and Marinette.”

That seemed like they were moving too fast. Marinette deserved to be … wooed … provided she was interested and not just turned on by him.

“A- are you sure? I mean, that seems like it's a little fast.”

There was that chuffing yet indulgent laugh of hers.

“Adrien, you and I could have her tomorrow if you committed, but now's not the time. Now, come here, _Alpha_ ,” she purred as she sauntered over the the bed, splaying herself out so that he could slaver over her perfect figure.

The smooth rosiness of her beasts and fine-cut figure enthralled him, dragged him forward as she started to play with her breasts and slowly stroke her cock, keeping herself hard. Her wanton seduction drew him her bed. It wasn't a nest, and she was far from an Omega, but he hadn't realized just how desperate he was to be welcomed – guided into – another person's intimate space. He brought _Marinette_ with him, settling the scarf on Kagami's pillow, though the other Alpha fingered the edge of it for a moment, breathing deep and shivering.

The bed was soaked with Kagami's scent and Marinette presence – warmth and heat – as they lay facing each other. He had to kiss her, her face alight and lines of surprise creasing her cheeks for a moment before she began to lave pecks around her chin and mouth and then trailed down his chest.

They scented each other eagerly, nuzzling and kissing, while her free hand curled around his cock, jerking him to keep him fully hard. With the thought of Marinette's plump rear in mind from earlier that day, he tried to reciprocate, clutched at Kagami's ass and massaging her roughly.

Resting heavy on the mattress between them, their cocks scraped by each other with each subtle motion.

“Ugh. You like that?”

God, he did, as he reached down to press their cocks together for a moment. She looked eager and disappointed at once when they affirmed that he was just a little bit longer and thicker.

With a shrug of dismissal, she rolled over to grab her toy and the bottle of lube.

Adrien had to get one of those. It was so beautiful to see her pressing her finger inside of it, swirling around the tight entrance while watching his reaction, teasing him with the thought of her doing that to Marinette instead. Once it was slick, she slathered the lube over her own member and handed the bottle over to him. He fumbled to do the same, making a bit of a mess of his abs with an errant squirt.

Because he was too consumed with the sight of her: she brought the thick tube down to her straining cock, gripping the base of the shaft in her free hand while staring at him, smirking at his reaction. The head of her phallus probed the tight hole as she flicked upand down, sliding her glans across those slick fake-pussy lips as if torturing a poor, needy Omega to force her to beg.

“Can you smell her, Adrien? How much she wants us?” she growled, slow rocks of her hips distending the toy, slipping in just an inch as Adrien turned slightly to huff the scent of Marinette's scarf. Sweetness, home, and just a hint of arousal lingered and it had him bulging.

“Yes,” he breathe, tasting Marinette and Kagami at once, sliding down the bed slightly so that he could take hold of the wriggling silicon tube which he saw had another tight opening on the other end. “Yes, _Alpha_ ,” he purred.

Her hips slammed forward as her breath got caught up. She liked that affirmation as much as he did.

And he got it. Finally, finally fucking something with his knot screaming, he pressed into the fake cunt, prodding several times and spreading slick lube over the rubbery lips until his cock finally sunk halfway into heaven.

His spine arched.

Their cocktips eased against each other, smearing lube and precum. The heat of Kagami's slowly rocking cock radiated into him – teased and tugged him in all the way. He sunk into bliss.

Everything was _hard-soft-hot_ need as they felt each other out, waiting on the edge, straining, trembling to see who would move first. Who would set the pace? Who would create an opening?

Kagami moaned, sultry and deep, as she grabbed at his lower back to pull him forward into her body and Marinette. Great heaving breaths brought to him the scent of Alpha and Omega at once from her body is it oozed violent, desperate want and the scarf that they both turned their faces to.

“She feels so good, doesn't she?” a more aggressive thrust had her half buried in the toy – _Marinette's pussy_ – while her hand rose from her base to stroke his chest and throat. “So natural,”

“She does- God, 'gami – she- she's so _tight_.”  
  
“Then give it to her,” Kagami hissed, holding onto him as if she was afraid that he was going to disappear while they both lost themselves in the sweet vanilla and flower scent of the scarf that was now soaking in their musk as well. “Breed her, Adrien!”

“ _God_!” he cried against the explosion of pleasure, envisioning Marinette slamming herself down onto their cocks. Kagami's hand squeezed down on the toy between them. The sound of it was blistering in his ears, the slick friction nearly enough to have him come without knotting.

The furious motions as they clashed together were a storm of fire and lightning, a tempest that battered him and rolled great tumultuous waves over his head and threatened to drown him.

There was a moment of crystalline clarity as they thrust upwards together, cocks hot and slick as they slid against each other, allowing him to feel the straining twitches that raced through her member as she fought off the desire to come and knot and _breed_.

It did feel natural – fighting, protecting, Marinette-Omega between them, and breeding. Of course Alphas were walking hard-ons. Thank God. He could get addicted to this.

His face pinched up tight as he admired her heaving breasts while she thrust against him.

Marinette was sweet in his mouth; Kagami hot and electric, tingling in the base of his neck and back of his skull.

“Look at me, Adrien,” Kagami huffed the command in her Alpha voice and it wasn't obedience that had him open his eyes; it was the thrill of defiance. The feral grin on her face as they locked eyes pierced into his chest as he puffed up and grabbed her hand so that they could begin to smash the toy down on their raging cocks, the fumbling only intensifying the pressure and making their strokes more desperate.

Her eyes didn't demand submission; they asked for a challenge, and he offered it.

It wasn't about who would win. It was about who would lose as Kagami reached up and began to roll her breast with a free hand and pinch her nipple between her fingers.

Who would come first?

It wouldn't be him.

“You see how much bigger my cock is?” he huffed at the great thrill of pleasure and something else that bubbled up when Kagami's motions slowed and uncertain shock spread across her face. “Marinette wo- wouldn't' even feel you after I'm done with her.”

“As if you'd ever get the chance,” she hissed back, defiance bubbling up again.

“You'll be lucky if I let you-” He gaped, cut off, as his stomach twisted up and he curled into her, pressing their sweat-dampened foreheads together. Her breath was hot on his face as he watched her eyes start to roll back. “If I let you clean her when I'm done.”

_Kagami between their Omega's thighs, feasting on her sweetness, cleaning out his seed..._

“Fuck! Like this,” she crooned, shoulders drooping as she shuddered with the effort of holding off her orgasm that had her cock painfully rigid against his. The rapid motion of her hand slowed as she started to squeeze them together. The pressure in his balls nearly seemed ready to burst as he whined with need. “Just like this. Both of us!”  
  
God, he could see her now, clinching at Kagami's shoulders while their mate's thick knot squeezed up into her pussy, locking them together so that she could be flooded with jet after jet of semen.

Bred.

Her arms would fall limp at her sides at the first spurt as her body surrendered to them, while they cradled her, awash in sweat and their combined scents. Then, his ears would pick up the barely audible echo of her scream, nearly silent, when she slapped her face to Kagami's throat and begged for mercy that she wouldn't get when his frantic thrusts pounded open her asshole and she was knotted again, sphincter clenching around the base of his cock.

She'd be so beautiful when Kagami kissed away the tears of joy and pain and they both tried to soothe away the discomfort becauseshe was such a good and acquiescing Omega. So good for them. So good _together_.

He ached at the sight of Kagami's face pinched up with pleasure as she tried to hold back her orgasm, sweat plastering hair to her face as she huffed in great pants through her nose.  
  
He had to beat her, had to break her resolve and make her come.

_Dominate. Fuck. Breed. Claim. Need. Protect. Please._

The heat and pressure increased as she lost all semblance of control, slamming her hips forward in quick, uneven thrusts and her cock swelled up against his.

Arching his back, he kissed her hard. Clawed fingers dug desperately into the meat of his shoulders, the sting itself a thrill, as she mewed and cried into his mouth, strengthening his resolve as she broke.

Finally, the tide of orgasm overtook her and she came, screaming his name and Marinette's in a garble while her final thrust knotted her end of the toy, loosing thick spurts of cum, flooding the toy, the sticky slickness surrounding his twitching cock and the knowledge that he'd _beaten_ her making the squeeze and press of the toy all the sweeter.

Holding off for more than a few seconds as she convulsed, he needed her – needed to taste her lips.

Stars and tingling electricity burst in his eyes and washed out thought as he slammed his knot past the lip of the toy and he came with her.

Their seed burst out around the thick knotted ends of their silicon toy, dribbling down onto Kagami's mattress as they huffed and gulped down air, desperate-harsh breaths washing over each other's faces in pants, tingling cold against sweaty flesh, as they filled their toy to overflowing – just as they would Marinette or Luka or any other Omega who they wanted to – to treasure and breed and keep safe and loved because giving love to someone who actually valued it – _didn't_ throw it away – was as important as getting it to someone who was so new at either – had never loved or been loved quite the way he'd wanted.

They were still hot and hard against one another, twitching and stimulating as they rode out that long, languid knotted orgasm. They kissed, moving slowly, tongues battling back and forth in a feeble dance. Her free had found his cheek while he drew her closer by threading a hand through her hair, playing with its strands.

It wasn't quite a competition now; there was only the bliss of having finished together, savoring the hormone and endorphin rush of having fought and emerged on the other side.

“Ugh,” Adrien hummed as they pulled apart at long last, though still knotted together in their toy. Their release was not an entirely pleasant smell, but he loved it. It made the room feel like theirs, left him tired and dreamy like he could happily roll through that sensation, even though they were a sticky mess. “Sorry about the sheets.”

“It's hardly the first time that I've had to change my sheets,” Kagami scoffed, snorting as he resettled and upset her knot. “ _Stop_ that.” She swatted his arm.

“Sorry.” They were still hot and wet against each other. “It's just that it- it's a little tight.”

“That's why I'm telling you to stop, unless you want to go again.” Her eyes rolled as she reached behind his ear to run her fingers through his hair. He shivered at that soothing sensation of her nails to his scalp.

“Probably best that we not. I'm already going to be late for dinner as it is.”

“Do you wish to have that shower, at least?” Kagami looked down to the knotted toy between them, took the mid-section in hand, and with no small effort, tugged free. More of their combined release trailed after her.

“Probably for the best.” And it wasn't like he didn't want to share a shower with a gorgeous girl he'd just half-rutted. “I don't want to show up at home smelling this rank.”

She pressed her nose to his chest and _breathed_.

“I rather like the way you smell at the moment,” she offered absently while she turned and stretched, spine cracking. SO did he. He just didn't have the courage to say that he wanted everyone to smell it - _them_. “And would be willing to give up half my inheritance to see the look on …” - her face darkened for a moment, in that subtle 'Kagami' way of hers - “ _Gabriel's_ face if you did.”

She rose while he tugged the toy free from his softening member.

All the tightly compressed curves of her breasts, the robust lines of muscle that led down to her pubic mound, and the flaccid cock that hung heavily between her legs and still carried the strong scent of their commingled seed had his blood heating again.

Why couldn't he see that every day?

Damn hormones.

After cleaning up the toy and stripping the sheets for the wash, their shower was slow, lingering, calming rather than arousing. The fight was over. Warm water sloughed away sweat and seed and scent, but they'd soaked into eachother. He might have insisted on using that harsh, chemical scent cleaner, but... he couldn't do it. Couldn't take away the sense that they had burrowed into each other's skin. He wanted more of that, and not just with her.

The call of Marinette's scent from the scarf she'd made him drew him back to Kagami's bed, while he toweled off his hair, and he sat there for a moment, fingering the rough wool, suddenly melancholic.

“Are you alright, Adrien?” Kagami asked as she made her way to her dresser for a change of clothes.

Was he? Was he just coming down from an endorphin rush?

“I- I was hoping that ... I don't know.”

“You're still not at peace.” He appreciated the way that her brow pinched up with a scowl while she collected her clothing and tossed them onto her bed.

Looking back down to the scarf, he realized that wasn't quite it.

He wasn't complete, and that may not have been on her or Marinette.

Maybe it was _him_.

Kagami settled next to him, still wholly naked and not caring, as if she could just stroll down the street that way and only grin at the way Omegas drooled and Alphas stared jealously.

“I wish that I could provide that to you because I see that you need it, but it is not something that you really want from me.” Her naked breasts against his shoulder as she hugged him to herself possessively, made him feel... better. It reminded him that he was owned in a way that had him looping a hand around her waist so she could feel it too.

“You go to Marinette when you need comfort, or Luka when you wish to play music and be soothed. As beautiful as it is, it is not something that Marinette and I share with you. We can appreciate how it calms you, but we do not understand it and cannot participate.”

It was possible that she was just being self-deprecating as she smiled for him. And she did smile _for_ him.

“We give each other different things. You come to me when you need to be challenged. When you know that you want something, but are too afraid to act.”

“When I need a kick in the butt, you mean?” he snarked. Butt-kickings were probably too frequent.

“Oh, yes,” came her growled response, brown eyes dark with promise as she trailed her hand down to said butt. “But come, now, Adrien. I have seen your Instagram. I know that you can swear.”

“I caught heck from my father and our PR agents for that.” With a scoff, he leaned in to nip at her chin, enjoying the way her jaw twitched while she held off a tremble. “Worth it. So, I come to you when I need a kick in the ass?”

“Yes, and I am always happy to kick your ass, Adrien,” she said, brow raising. “Especially when you most need it.”

“Wow. I'm shocked that Omegas aren't lining up for you to kick their assess.”

“Who's to say that they aren't? I am simply quite selective. It has to be a very fine ass to be worthy of getting kicked.” As if to emphasize her point, she gave his ass a squeeze, and he couldn't help the grunt that had her grinning.

“I'm flattered.”

“As well you should be.”

They held each other for a while, Adrien pondering everything that his life was, and wasn't, and might be.

“Kagami?”

“Yes, Adrien?”

He kissed her, and it was beautiful that he could still surprise her, her lips trailing after his when he withdrew just as suddenly.

“Thanks for kicking my ass.” A flirty Chat Noir wink had her shaking her head at him.

“You are welcome,” she scoffed with a shove to his shoulder. “Still, it is up to you to actually do whatever it was that you were hesitating about.”

She was also right, of course. About kicking his ass and Marinette and Luka. All the people around him fit into different holes – in a completely non-sexual sense; damn is hormones for twisting everything – they met different needs in different proportions.  
  
“It's like when we went for ice cream, eh? We all had our own flavours, but it was up to us to figure out how they fit.”

“The metaphor breaks down, I think, as I would enjoy four scoops of vanilla ice cream.” The light and satisfying tingle of her nails trailing over his shoulder had him groaning and purring. She pressed her cheek to his, and suddenly as they rolled against each other, his whole world was the scent of cinnamon cut with something explosive – harsh and acrid but exhilarating and dangerous too – and the softness of her flesh while they nuzzled.

“However,” she continued in a breathy whisper against his face, “it is the different combinations – the way that they compliment each other – that make the dish exciting. Plain vanilla would be quite boring, and I am most assuredly uninterested in leading a boring life. So, are you ready to actually act on your feelings for Marinette?”

“No.”

Kagami frowned and rose to stand in front of him, arms locking over her chest as she glowered.

“Adrien, do I have to kick your ass physically?” The scowl intensified, but there was a gleam of eagerness too. “I will if you force me to.”

“No.” His hands rose to wave her off – and ward her off because a pissed off Kagami was terrifying, even more so since she was his girlfriend. “It's not that.”

“You're hesitating again. I won't, you know?”

“No. It's not hesitation,” he deflected her verbal thrust as he pushed past her to put his scarf back into his bag and pull out a change of clothes, heedless of the little growl she threw in his direction. “It's not about holding back because I'm uncertain. I- I realize how much I want her, and- and I will start to court her. I don't think I could not court her after what happened today, but I'm not ready for her.”

“Do you mean that you are not ready to mate with her outright?” She smiled wolfishly as she stepped into her underwear and pulled them up her legs. “I could certainly handle that for you if you're unwilling.”

He laughed because the threat, while genuine, was also meant to spur him to compete in a ... friendly and loving rivalry that he cherished as much as he did Marinette's calm.

“I'm not the kind of Alpha that she needs in her life. I can't take care of her the way that she deserves because I'm still figuring out what I'm supposed to be. You can protect her, but neither of us can... can really be strong and soft when she needs it.”

“Yet you can be in a relationship with me?” she asked while buttoning up a fresh blouse.  
  
“Yes. We have a different dynamic. It's okay if we're too rough or we – I don't know.” He shrugged while collecting his shirt and slipping it over his head, fiddling for a moment with the arms. “We're both the same kind of mess, so we work, but Marinette deserves our best.”

Kagami paused and considered him from the corner of her eye, judging, before she spoke soft and clear.

“Adrien, that is one of the most ... _Alpha_ things that you've ever said. You've put her needs above yours and want to make certain that she is not hurt. I'm... genuinely impressed.”

“I have to land a touch ever now and again, right?” He shrugged while enjoying the way she looked at him, impressed.

She sauntered across the room to stand at his side.

“You land them so rarely that they always come as a surprise.”

“Ha. Ha,“ he deadpanned, shoving her in the arm because she was one of the few people he- he was allowed to be rough with.

“So what do you propose that we do?” There was genuine curiosity to her voice, subtle though it might have been, as she smoothed out the edges of his shirt – made him presentable because ... because you wanted to show off the things that were yours, he realized. Wanted people to see just how good they were. He knew that because he started to do the same thing to her blouse, folding it along the proper lines and shifting it so that it sat right on her robust shoulders.

“We court her, but we keep it at that until – until we both learn how to be what we are.”

“You think I haven't over the last two years?” Her hands moved from his collar to his throat, soft yet calloused.  
  
He thought back to the image of Marinette swaddled in gifts that he and Kagami had proffered to her as she bedded down in her heat, wrapped up in his arms while Kagami cradled her from the other side.

“For Marinette, we can always be better.”

There was something unsettled about her reaction as she pulled back, spine slightly rigid, looking away from him. It twisted in his gut, but he ignored it.

He had to ignore it because he meant it, and that, combined with Kagami's scent mingled with his, let him endure his father's bitter and hateful scowls and glares when he arrived home, even though the other man feigned ignoring him.

It was shunning.

He wasn't _pack_ – was threatened by it. By exclusion, isolation.

Too bad he'd lived excluded and isolated for years. It no longer had power over him; the threat had been reality for too long.

And it didn't matter, because it didn't have to be any more.

Pausing before climbing into bed after he finished his homework and Mandarin, he grabbed two scarves: old and new and stared at them both for long minutes. 

He fell asleep with the blue one to his chest, and the woolen one to his nose. Even Plagg's evening meal couldn't wash away the scent of sex, Kagami, Marinette, and him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Jan 10, 2021: I am very sorry for the lengthy hiatus with this work. Not to burden you with any details, but my personal situation and work life are ... difficult at the moment. This work will continue, but it's going to take some time, and I may be working with another author whom I respect. 
> 
> Thank you for all the continued interest and the kind, engaged comments that this story has received. I can only hope that the Alpha-Alpha fucking lived up to the standard of the fight-fucking last chapter. Now, with the pieces set, we can see how Gabriel and Lila are going to respond to the events of the past few days. The plot is going to really pick up the pace, and Adrien can begin to court at least one Omega. 
> 
> You're no-doubt wondering about "Gabriel's" scarf. You'll see.


End file.
